Can't you see
by ladycarathis
Summary: Suga doesn't like Daichi. Daichi is head over heels for Suga. Kuroo tries -tries- to get them together. Also, Suga has three cats, and he swears they're going to be the end of him some day.
1. Chapter 1

From: Cheshire Cat, 09:37  
Subject: Rise and shine  
Text: Rise and shine, Sugar! Don't forget you have courses later today! I'm going to pick you up at around 10:30!

Yawning, Sugawara Koushi squinted at his phone and the message he had just received, before he decided not to react to that text. Damn Kuroo. He couldn't have let him sleep 20 minutes longer, could he? Well, it was no use now. Now he was awake and there was no way he would be able to go back to sleep. He stretched, threw the blanket off and got up. Scratching his belly while he shuffled over to his drawer to search for fresh clothes, he was greeted by three loudly meowing cats.  
"Yes, yes. Good morning to you, too, you troublesome lot.", he bent down to pet each of them shortly, before he put on some clean underwear and a dark red sweatshirt with a v-neck. His jeans from yesterday would still do, he thought. -Well, until he noticed that one of the cats -probably Loki- had slept on it. He especially liked to leave his white fur all over Sugas darker pieces of clothing, the little devil.  
"Would you look at that, Loki! What am I going to wear now? All my clothes are in the wash! And I can't go out just in sweatpants!", he chided while he held up his now unwearable jeans, shooed the cats out of his room and started to dig around in the depths of his drawer. He hoped he would be able to find an old -very old- pair of jeans that he could wear for today.  
"Ah, lucky me!", he cheered to himself, when he actually found one. He pulled the piece of clothing out and looked at it. Maybe a little washed-out, but not too shabby, he decided. It would do for the day. He pulled it on and had a look at himself in the mirror, before he left his room.  
Which was not something he usually did. But those jeans sure were a tight fit and he wanted to check if it wasn't too tight. After a long look, he decided he felt comfortable enough with what he saw and left his room to get on with the rest of his morning routine.  
Feed the cats, try to comb his hair, brush his teeth, prepare his thermos-can of tea (he just didn't like most of the stuff they sold in the numerable coffee-shops around college) and eat a quick breakfast, which usually consisted of some fruits and a slice of bread (he didn't have time for a traditional breakfast most of the weekdays, and he wasn't that great a cook, anyway), while he waited for his best friend to pick him up. He had long since given up on telling Kuroo not to do that, but that guy wouldn't listen to him, so Suga had come to accept that he was being picked up by Kurro every morning, when they had courses that started on the same time. -Which was basically every morning except on Thursdays. While Kuroo could be considerate and was a good friend most of the time, really, there were also times when he only did, what he wanted to do at that moment, and then no one was able to change his mind.  
At 10:23am, the doorbell rang and Suga let Kuroo in.  
"Ready to go?", he wanted to know and Suga nodded.  
"Guess so. I just need to find my scarf... Where did I put it yesterday?", the silver haired boy mumbled to himself, before he scurried off to look for it.  
"I'll help looking. -By the way, Suga, nice ass. Are those jeans new?", Kuroo teased, one eyebrow raised in question.  
Suga almost gave himself a whiplash, as fast as he turned his neck to throw a glare at his best friend.  
"No, they aren't. They're probably still from my last year in High School. I just don't have any other clean ones right now, since a certain white furball decided to sleep on my last clean pair of jeans at some point this night.", he scowled and then went back to looking for his gray scarf.  
"And would you please _stop ogling_ me already?! You _do_ have a boyfriend, don't you?"  
"Doesn't mean I can't appreciate a nice view when I see one. Besides, you better get used to it. I wont be the only one staring at your ass today.", Kuroo smugly retorted and pulled Sugas scarf out from behind one of the pillows on his couch.  
"There it is! Now let's get going, we don't want to be late, do we?"  
Suga sighed and took the scarf from his friend, before they headed out for the day.  
They separated at the entrance of the university. Kuroo had another medical ethics course he had to attend to, while Suga headed off to his own course in the psychology department. Sure, studying psychology wasn't exactly easy, but he liked it anyway. Always had, actually.  
On the way to his course, he could feel the people staring after him, once he'd passed them, even more so than before, when he walked with Kuroo. Suga wasn't exactly a shy person, but he had been glad when his friend had drawn most of the attention of the passers-by to him, with his captivating, intriguing aura and his good looks it wasn't even that hard for him. Now that Suga was alone, there was no distraction for all those voyeurs. He sighed, pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked the time, only to let out a shocked "Ack!", when he saw just how late it was. If he didn't run for it now, he'd be late. And as nice as Takeda-Sensei might have been, Suga really didn't want to be late, so he broke out into a sprint to his course and barely made it.  
He was still catching his breath and trying to tame his disheveled hair, when his Professor came in and started the lecture. Lukily, Takeda-Sensei didn't bring up anything new for today and Suga didn't need to listen too closely. His Professor just rehearsed the stuff from his last lecture and remembered his students that there would be a test at the end of the next week and that their essay was still due to next Monday. Suga groaned, along with the other students. Since, as nice as Take-Chan (that's how the students secretly called their Professor) was, sometimes Suga wondered if the guy actually liked torturing his students with those enormous workloads he assigned them. Now, don't get him wrong: Suga sure as hell wasn't a lazy student, and his grades were above average in all of his classes, but he still liked to have his free time, thank you very much.  
Sometime during the lecture though, his phone buzzed.

From: Cheshire Cat, 11:47  
Subject: Lunch  
Text: I hope you wont mind one of the guys from my volleyball team joining us for lunch?

To: Cheshire Cat, 11:50  
Subject: Lunch  
Text: I don't see why that would be a problem. Who is it, anyway?

From: Cheshire Cat, 11:51  
Subject: Lunch  
Text: Sawamura Daichi.

To: Cheshire Cat, 11:52  
Subject: Lunch  
Text: No. Kuroo, no. Everyone but him! You know I can't stand that guy!

From: Cheshire Cat, 11:54  
Subject: Lunch  
Text: You don't even know him, Suga. Come on, it's just lunch!

To: Cheshire Cat, 11:56  
Subject: Lunch  
Text: I don't have to know him to know that I don't like him, Kuroo.

From: Cheshire Cat, 11:57  
Subject: Lunch  
Text: Oh, come on! Just this once? You don't have to talk to him, if you don't want to.

To: Cheshire Cat, 11:58  
Subject: Lunch  
Text: Fine. You owe me big time now, though.

From: Cheshire Cat, 12:01  
Subject: Lunch  
Text: Yay!

Suga groaned and pulled a hand through his still slightly messy hair, making it even messier now. What had he gotten himself into? Why couldn't he just have said no, like any other sane person would have done? Why couldn't Kuroo accept that there were people on this planet that Suga would rather not get acquainted with? And one of them was Sawam3ura Daichi. He really only had seen the guy a few times, when he went to see Kuroos volleyball matches and on campus, when he was went out of his way to meet with Kuroo, and he hadn't talked to him even once. He just knew there was something about that guy that just didn't sit right with him. And now he had to have to sit through lunch with him! Wasn't that just great?  
Luckily, his course lastet for at least another hour, and then he'd have to walk to the cafeteria where he and Kuroo normally ate their lunch. -Which meant that he could take his time in getting there. Hopefully, by the time he got there, they'd be halfway through their meals already, and Suga wouldn't have to spend too much of his time at the same table Sawamura-San.  
When Takeda-Sensei expanded his lecture by over ten minutes, Suga didn't even care. Now he had an acceptable excuse to be late. Though he still walked at a snails pace to get to his destination. On his way, he sent another text to Kuroo.

To: Cheshire Cat, 13:17  
Subject: Lunch  
Text: I'll be there in a few. Take-Chan expanded his lecture by 15 minutes. You can start eating without me.

From: Cheshire Cat, 13:19  
Subject: Lunch  
Text: No, that's fine. We'll wait for you. See you soon!

Suga literally pouted, when he read that text. And there he was, thinking he might get to cut that dreaded lunch short! Damn that Kuroo. He really had no luck today, huh?  
At least he had no trouble spotting Kuroos enormous bedhead between all those other students. He sighed, tightened his grip on his tray of food and made his way over to their desk. Kuroo and Sawamura-San really had waited for him, even though he had said they shouldn't. They greeted him with friendly, but slightly pitying smiles. Suga put down his tray and sat down on the chair opposite of Kuroo, while the guy pulled Sugas tray over to him and started snatching away all of the fish in his dish.  
Sawamura-San followed that action with a curious, slightly confused look in his eyes.  
"Uhm... I hope you don't mind me asking, but... uhm, you guys aren't dating, are you?", he almost shyly questioned them, a light blush appearing on his face.  
And while Suga frowned at that, Kuroo laughed merrily.  
"Oh hell no! I do have a boyfriend. Suga and I just have made a food-agreement. I get to eat all of his meat and fish, and he gets the fruits and vegetables I don't like."  
"But why? You need to eat meat!", Sawamura-San explained almost worriedly, which had Suga roll his eyes.  
He didn't attempt an answer, though, since he was sure, Kuroo would gladly provide him with the right one. -Which he did.  
"Suga's a vegetarian, so it's fine. This way, nothing gets wasted. Oh, by the way! I believe you two haven't met officially before, have you?", he didn't wait for either of them to reply to that and continued talking, "Daichi, this is Sugawara Koushi-Kun, my best man. Suga, this is Sawamura Daichi-Kun, the captain of my volleyball team."  
Suga only nodded shortly in Sawamuras general direction, before he went on taking most of the fruits and vegetables from Kuroos tray. Sawamura-San on the other hand greeted Suga properly.  
"It's nice to meet you, Sugawara-Kun."  
It earned him another frown from the silver haired one. The feeling definitely wasn't mutual, which is why he didn't reply and instead chose to start eating. He wanted to get over this already, and the sooner, the better. Sighing under his breath, he decided to zone out and not pay attention to the conversation Kuroo was trying to establish with his captain.  
His best friend must have noticed Sugas unwillingness to take part in their conversation, which is why he didn't even try to rope him into it. Sawamura on the other hand glanced at Suga every so often -which didn't go unnoticed by the fair haired one and made him practically inhale his lunch. When he was done, not even ten minutes had passed since he had sat down.  
"Well then, I gotta get going. See you later, Kuroo.", Suga took his leave, not even acknowledging Sawamura anymore.  
Kuroo frowned, when Suga took his tray and left them behind. He also noticed Sawamuras crestfallen look, when he watched Suga leave.  
"He really doesn't like me, does he?", Sawamura mumbled, when Suga was a safe distance away and wouldn't be able to hear them anymore.  
Said boy meanwhile had left the cafeteria behind and was on the way to his next course -which wouldn't start before another hour had passed. And he had nothing to do until then!  
"I guess I need to find something to kill my time with...", he mumbled to himself.  
He was lucky enough that the lecture hall was already open and he could occupy one of the seats in the back. Within minutes, he had taken up more than half of the table he sat at with his stuff. His bag, his thermos-can, the books he would need for the lecture, a notebook for his copies. He made himself comfortable and decided to engross himself in that book he found just recently at the local bookstore and hadn't had the chance to look at, yet. It was a rather thin one, with probably not more than two or three hundred pages in total, and he could likely manage to read it within the week -that was, if he hadn't had to do quite so much for his courses- but he knew better than that.  
In between his coursework, commuting to and from university, taking care of his troublesome cats and the occasional night out with his friends, he would need three weeks, maybe even four, most likely. Well, that way he'd at least be able to enjoy it, right?  
Suga sighed and turned the pages to the first chapter. Soon he was so deep into the story, he didn't even notice the lecture had started. Only when the guy who had taken the seat next to him nudged him with his elbow, he came back to reality. He smiled apologetically at the stranger and whispered his thanks to him, before he started paying attention to his professor.  
After the course, he checked his phone for any new messages and actually dawdled a little, before he left the room. Though it was still only October and the weather forecast had promised a nice day, it was pouring down now. And Suga neither had an umbrella, nor a jacket, for that matter. He'd be completely soaked by the time he would be home and surely would have caught a cold on top of that. He sighed and looked sullenly at the looming gray clouds. Kuroos courses would last for another two hours today, s they normally didn't go home together, but now Suga was willing to wait for him. Just for the chance of the other actually having his umbrella with him. Though maybe he should send Kuroo a text and ask him first, before he actually waited for nothing in the end.

To: Cheshire Cat, 16:32  
Subject: It's raining  
Text: It's raining. You don't happen to have a spare umbrella you can lend to me?

From: Cheshire Cat, 16:34  
Subject: It's raining  
Text: I actually do have one. I'm in hall 216, break's in 15 minutes. See you then!

To: Cheshire Cat, 16:37  
Subject: It's raining  
Text: Great! I'm on my way, then!

Relieved, Suga smiled and thought about the best route to take to get to Kuroos lecture hall. It was at the other end of the campus, he believed, somewhere by the west-entrance. If he remembered correctly. He pocketed his phone and started walking. It would take him approximately ten minutes to get there, since he'd have to walk the long way around campus to avoid going out into the still pouring rain. He'd rather not catch a cold.  
The halls he passed were vacated for the most part, but here and there he saw a few people standing together and chatting away, probably waiting for the downpour to pass. There was even someone catcalling him, but he ignored that with an annoyed roll of his eyes. He would never wear these jeans again! Ever! Luckily, his day was almost over, so he wouldn't have to deal with much more bullshit.  
"Sugar-Chan! Over here!", Kuroo called out to him, just as he entered the corridor where his best friends lecture hall supposedly was. Well, at least he got that one right.  
"Gosh, Kuroo. Stop making such a ruckus. And _please stop_ calling me that!"  
"But it's true! You are as sweet as sugar, and your name is practically the same, anyway.", Kuroo all but whined.  
"Kuroo, I'm going to double the amount you owe me for today, if you don't stop. Now."  
Suga almost glared at him. And Sugas glares were just as scary as Daichis, Kuroo thought.  
"Fine, fine, I'll stop. If it makes you any happier: I know of at least one guy, whose heart you broke today with those jeans.", he winked at Suga.  
"Is that so?", the silver haired one frowned, thinking back to that faceless person that had catcalled him a few minutes earlier, then he smirked.  
"Well, wearing these jeans wasn't in vain, then, I guess. I don't even want to know how many people realized today I was out of their league."  
He was joking, though, and Kuroo knew that. He laughed, and Suga let himself be drawn into it and chuckled, as well.  
"Sure, sure. Don't you want to know whom I'm talking about, though?", he pressed on, when Suga showed no intention of asking that question.  
"No, not really. You know I don't care about that stuff. Will you give me your umbrella now?", Suga sighed.  
He really didn't want to know. It was enough for him to know that is was _yet another _guy, apparently. Over the last few years he had lost count on just how many guys and girls had been crushing on him, it simply were too many. Some of them later said that he had planned them to fall in love with him -outright accused him- so he could become even more popular. -Not that he hadn't been, already. With his ash blonde hair and his angelic behavior he sure stood out amongst the other students. But to say that he had plotted for them to crush on him had hurt him. -And changed him, in a way, when he found out. He stopped always being nice to everyone, spoke his mind more often and he even opposed his teachers (just once or twice, but it did the thing) and it worked. Slowly but steadily, he lost his reputation of the angelic, nice guy and was just another student, that was -at best- admired for his good looks or his grades. Some people still crushed on him, but he didn't care about that anymore and turned each and every one of them down, be it boy or girl. -In favour of his grades, he would always say, but in truth, it was because he didn't know if he liked them. Could come to like them. He was nice enough to everyone, when it came down to it, but there never was anyone special. He never once thought he might come to actually fall for this person or that one. Neither boys nor girls would catch his attention, and so he remained single through all of his school years, and now, in university, far away from his small hometown and his friends, he was still the same.  
"Ah, sure. Here you go. I'll come pick it up later, okay?", Kuroo pulled him out of his thoughts and handed him the umbrella.  
"Thanks, Kuroo! Have fun at your lecture!", Suga took the umbrella and turned to leave.  
"I'll see you later, then? At around eight?"  
"Yep, as always. Oh, I'm also going to bring Kenma and Shimizu-Chan along, if that's alright?"  
"Yeah, sure. Later!"

At home, Suga went to tidy up the place -not that he needed to do much, though. He just vacuumed and cleaned the kitchen, before he went to have a quick shower and did his laundry so it would be done by the time his friends showed up. While he was doing that, his mind was free to wander off, and it did. He wondered how the book he started reading would continue, what he'd do tomorrow and how he'd spend the rest of his free time until his doorbell rang.  
Ultimately, he found himself lounging on his couch, two of his three cats in his lap and demanding their daily dose of affection from him. He smiled, thinking that it was the best idea Kuroo came up with so far. One day, Suga had been complaining how lonely it felt to come home to an empty flat, and the next thing he knew, Kuroo was standing in his door a few days later, with a basket that contained three adorable little kittens. Loki, Freyja and Sigyn he had named them after some nordic deities. But before he did that, he had scolded Kuroo for doing something so reckless as just picking up three kittens from a shelter, without knowing if Suga could (or would) keep them. Well, he _had_ kept them, obviously, and he loved all three of them, even if they were more than a handful sometimes. He almost fell asleep, lulled in by the soft purring of Freyja and Sigyn, but the doorbell rang just in time and had him jolt back to be perceptive and alert.  
The rest of his night was spent in the company of his friends. They made plans for Halloween, which party they would attend, what costumes they'd wear. They discussed their fellow students crushes or paired them up with people they thought fit them perfectly. At some point, the center of their conversation shifted from some unknown guy Shimizu had come up with, to Suga.  
"So, Suga... You seriously don't have your eyes on anyone? There must be someone you like! Or at least someone you think is attractive -aside from me, of course!", Kuroo taunted him.  
But Suga was used to that speech by now, so he didn't bother stressing over it and simply answered with a shrug.  
"Nope. Not anybody."  
He said it in such a matter-of-fact-way, that Kuroo didn't even pull a face at that. Kenma merely raised an eyebrow, before he went back to concentrate on the game he was playing on his phone, but Shimizu tilted her head, a questioning look in her eyes. She didn't believe him.  
"It's true though. There's no one I feel especially attracted to.", Suga repeated.  
"But you did have a crush on someone before, right?", the dark haired girl wanted to know.  
"I don't think so?", came the careful reply.  
Now that he thought about it... Did that count when you had to think about a person again and again, but not because he or she was particularly good looking or had a nice character, and you just couldn't quite put your finger on what intrigued you about them? Suga wasn't sure about that, so he stayed quiet. Besides, if he said that, Kuroo and Shimizu both would pester him to spill a name already. And they sure as hell would try to set him up with that person.  
"Boooring! Suga, you seriously need to get laid!", Kuroo exclaimed, which made the blond actually blush and flustered.


	2. Chapter 2

Daichi started his day early, to go and have a jog outside. He had planned this run since the weather forecast had promised considerably warm temperatures and a lot of sunshine for a late October day. The indoor tracks at his colleges' gym didn't appeal to him most of the time. Sun and fresh air -that was, what he needed and the reason he was up at six in the morning, wearing his universities' sweatpants and a loosely fitting black shirt, while he sipped at his first coffee of the day.  
He would need it to get through with the day, and even more so when he really went along with that ridiculous idea of Kuroos'. But he tried not to think of it too much and tried to ignore those looming feelings of dread and despair that ate away at his guts that he felt since that moment his black haired friend had learned that Daichi crushed on Kuroos best friend.  
"Hmm, so you like Sugar-Chan?", he had asked, a mischievous glint in his eyes.  
Daichi had been tempted to deny it, to play it off and tell Kuroo he must have heard it wrong when he overheard Daichi talking to Asahi-San about his crush on Sugawara-San, but it was no use. His secret was out, though at that time, he didn't even know 'Sugar-Chans' full name. Kuroo thankfully supplied him with one, though.  
Sugawara Koushi.  
The silver haired man, who came to watch most of their volleyball-teams matches (he always stood in the front row and cheered enthusiastically), apparently was Kuroos best friend since their freshman year in High School. They seemed to have played volleyball together at that time, and Daichi did remember him coming to the tryouts for their universities' team, but Sugawara-Kun hadn't come back after that. Back then, Daichi didn't think anything about that and even forgot that encounter entirely, until Kuroo started providing him wih tidbits of information about his best friend.  
At that time, in their first year at college, Sugawara-Kun had fared quite well throughout their tryouts, and when Daichi finally started to ask Kuroo about his best friend out of his own accord, the first question he had, was, why the blonde had stopped playing volleyball.  
"Actually, I don't really know. He never answered, when I asked him about it.", Kuroo had frowned, while he thought about it and tried to come up with an explanation.  
He never found one, though.  
Aside from that, Daichi learned that Sugawara-Kun seemed to be a pretty nice guy, sometimes a little mischievous (though by far not as bad as Kuroo), sometimes a little too caring and way too focused on his studies. He learned that Kuroo hat presented his best friend with three kittens in their first year in college, when he complained about how he felt lonely coming back home to an empty flat. There were many more things than that, and Daichi actually rehearsed them every few days, in order not to forget something important.  
For now, he was done, though. His coffee was empty, and if he didn't get going now, he would have to share is usual track with other people. So he slipped his headphones on, plugged them into his phone and started his jogging-playlist. It contained most of his favourite songs from Nightwish, but there were some other songs mixed in between, too. He didn't know why, but when he first stumbled over that band on the internet -completely by chance- he was done for, the second he heard the first few tacts of 'The Kinslayer,'. After that, he quickly found that he had a thing for symphonic metal in general and soon became invested. He didn't dress all in black and leather and studs, though. Sure, he liked the general apparel, but with his muscular build it was hard not to get mistaken for one of those thugs that hung around his school, and he didn't want to get in trouble for nothing. But, be that, as it may!  
He left the flat he shared with Asahi and Bokuto and did his stretches, before he set out for his run.  
When he came back to his flat an hour and a half later, Asahi was up and greeted him with the promise to have breakfast ready by the time Daichi was done with his shower. After almost two years of living together, the gentle giant knew Daichis habit to go out and run first thing in the morning (before he even had breakfast) by heart and he had it taken up on himself to provide his friend with a well-balanced breakfast when he came back. -Otherwise Daichi wouldn't eat anything until lunch and function solely on the basis of coffee and energy drinks. And that certainly was not healthy for an athlete. Daichi thanked him and stripped his sweat-drenched shirt off, while still in the hallway of their flat. With a quick flick of his wrist, he tossed it into his room and went to take his shower.  
"Are you going to do what Kuroo suggested the other day?", Asahi wanted to know, once the two of them sat at their tiny table in the kitchen and had their breakfast.  
"I don't know. I'm still not sure it's a good idea.", Daichi replied after he gulped down half of his second coffee for the day.  
"Kuroo said Sugawara-Kun doesn't like me. It's a little disheartening, to be honest. He doesn't even know me, so how does he know he doesn't like me, Asahi?"  
"Uhm, well...", the guy stuttered, while he tried to come up with an answer that would satisfy his friend.  
"I'm not sure. But it's just like that, I guess. There are always some people you can't sympathize with, even if you haven't talked to them before. Remember when we were still in High School and played that match against Shiratorizawa? You had just one look at Ujishima-San and said you didn't like him. Isn't that just the same thing Sugawara-San did?"  
It was a rather long speech for Asahi, and Daichi didn't exactly expect such an elaborate answer from him, but maybe he should have.  
"I guess you're right. There's no helping it, then. Though Ujishima-Kun and I eventually established something like a mutual respect for each other over time.", he mumbled thoughtfully.  
"That's true. Maybe Sugawara-San will change his opinion on you when he gets to know you, too?", Asahi suggested and Daichi nodded absentmindedly.  
He hoped his friends were right, since not only Asahi had said so, now, but Kuroo had too, before.

From: Trashcat, 08:47  
Subject: Today  
Text: Yo, captain! Ready for today? We're still doing it, right? You're not chickening out now, are you?

To: Trashcat, 08:50  
Subject: Today  
Text: Don't get cocky, Kuroo! I'm not chickening out now. I said I'll do it. Though I doubt it would do any good.

From: Trashcat, 08:52  
Subject: Today  
Text: We'll see about that. I have a feeling it will go well enough. Besides, he wont rip your head off, crowboy.

To: Trashcat, 08:53  
Subject: Today  
Text: I don't trust your feelings, cat. And how can you be so sure about that?! He doesn't like me. At all. You said so yourself!

From: Trashcat, 08:58  
Subject: Today  
Text: You hurt me, Daichi! When have I ever let you down? Never, that's it! I may have said that at one point, that's true. But! That only means it can't get any worse, right? You'll see, soon enough Suga'll be head over heels for you! Just come sit with us for lunch from now on. He'll get used to you, and before he can even notice it, his animosity towards you will be gone.

To: Trashcat, 09:01  
Subject: Today  
Text: When you say it like that, it sounds easy enough. Though I doubt he'll fall for me that easily. Ugh! Kurooooo!

From: Trashcat, 09:03  
Subject: Today  
Text: Daichi, it'll be fine. Don't stress yourself. I know what I'm doing. And I know Suga. He's actually pretty predictable.

To: Trashcat, 09:04  
Subject: Today  
Text: Easy for you to say! You're not the guy with a huge crush on him! -What do you mean, he's predictable?

From: Trashcat, 09:06  
Subject: Today  
Text: That's true! Though everyone crushed on Suga at some point, I guess. Well, just what I said. When I tell him you'll be joining us for lunch, he'll grumble and rant and bitch about it, but he'll come anyway, because that's just the way he is. He might try to cut lunch short or ignore us, though.

To: Trashcat, 09:07  
Subject: Today  
Text: That's not very encouraging, you know? Are you sure he wouldn't ditch us entirely?

From: Trashcat, 09:10  
Subject: Today  
Text: Suga would never do that to me. Now, don't you have a lecture to attend to in 20 minutes?

To: Trashcat, 09:10  
Subject: Today  
Text: Shit!

Needless to say, Daichi came in ten minutes too late for his lecture. His professor frowned at him, when he noticed Daichi sneaking in. He thought he was off the hook with that, but he was wrong. Two hours later, Ukai-Sensei called him over, when the lecture ended.  
"Sawamura-Kun, I wont give you any extra tasks to work on for today, since it's the first time for you to be late. Consider this a warning -next time this happens I wont be so generous. Now, off you go."  
Daichi, who had felt his heart drop the moment Ukai-Sensei had called out to him, visibly relaxed and nodded, understanding.  
"Of course, Sensei. Thank you very much. It wont happen again, I promise."  
He bowed to his professor before he left the lecture hall.  
It was 12:35 now, and he had nothing to do until lunchtime, when he was going to meet with Kuroo -and Sugawara-Kun! Gosh, he was already giddy like a child on its birthday, right before it gets to open the presents. This was no good. If he was this nervous already, he would be a total wreck by the time, he actually _met_ his crush! He had to find something to distract himself from his thoughts. But, when he came up empty handed after a while of thinking about it, he gave up. Instead, he focused on finding a quiet corner on the campus, where he could coop himself up in until it was time for lunch. He didn't have much luck, though, so he opted to just go to his favourite coffee-shop instead. If he was right, Noya was working today, and Daichi was sure the barista would do an excellent job at taking his mind off of things.  
The coffee-shop wasn't that far away,just down the street, actually, and Daichi made his way there in less than five minutes.  
"Yo! Daichi! Haven't seen your face in a while! How's it been?", he was greeted by a cheerful voice the moment he entered the shop.  
"Hello, Noya-San. I've been busy with my studies, I guess. Care to make me a coffee? I really need one right now."  
"On it! But you _do_ know it's no use to overwork yourself and live off of caffeine all the time, right?"  
The short man with brown, spiky hair and a blond streak in the middle of his fringe started to prepare his coffee, while Daichi took a seat at the counter. It was still time until all the other students would rush in in their lunch break to refill their caffeine-reserves, so he could have a little chat with his friend without distracting him from work.  
"Thanks, Noya. Sure. It's just... Ugh. You haven't talked to Kuroo recently, have you?"  
"Huh? No, I haven't. He hasn't come in lately, just like you. Wait, don't tell me, you two-?!"  
"No! Damn it, Noya! I... W-we would never! That's just ridiculous! Where did you even _get_ that idea?!", Daichi flustered, his face a bright shade of red.  
"Relax. I was just joking. I know you two wouldn't do that.", the barista grinned and handed Daichi his coffee.  
"Or would you?", he winked at his still slightly flushed friend.  
"Noya! Honestly!", Daichi grumbled and blew on his coffee, to cool it off a little.  
"Yeah, yeah. Why did you ask, though? Do you need something from him? Didn't he show up to practice lately, or what's up?"  
"No, it's not that. I was just... wondering, I guess?"  
"That's not like you. Something's up, isn't it? Daichi?", Nishinoya implored and Daichi sighed.  
He didn't want to rope Noya into this mess that was his non-existent love-live, but he knew the other probably wouldn't shut up otherwise.  
"Well, yeah...", he sighed and took a sip from his coffee.  
The beverage was still almost scalding hot, but he paid no mind to that and instead savored its taste. Noyas coffee was the best.  
"There... there's this guy I've been crushing on for a while now, and Kuroo is tired of me just watching him from afar. He knows him -apparently they are friends since High School- and now he wants me to meet him. He invited me to have lunch with him and his friend today."  
Daichi left Suga's name out on purpose, since he knew Noya would tell these news to practically everyone of his friends. Not that he cared -most of them knew of his sexual orientation and didn't really care about it anyway- so it shouldn't be too much of a surprise for them to hear of Daichis crush. But what he couldn't let happen, was Sugawara finding out about his crush on him. He'd be so done for, if that happened. Just the thought alone had him slump in his seat.  
"Eh? Really?! Tell me about him! Who is he? Maybe I know him and can help get you two together, too! Daichiii, spill!", Noya urged him, but he shook his head no.  
"I wont tell you. You're just going to blab it to Tanaka. And then everyone will know.", he frowned, while Noya looked offended.  
"I'm not_ that_ bad at keeping secrets, you know? At least tell me, what this crush of yours is like, then?"  
Daichi sighed and fiddled with his cup of coffee, while he thought about what he could tell Noya without him being able to guess Sugas identity.  
"Well... he is pretty tall, I guess, about my height. He's kind of the lean type, just like you, and he has blonde hair and seems to be pretty nice?"  
There. That should be enough. Noya leaned on the counter, giving Daichi a scrutinizing look.  
"But that could be _anyone_, Daichi! A little more detail,_ please_!", he finally demanded.  
"No. That's all I'm telling you.", Daichi promptly retorted.  
"Fine then! Next time, you wont be getting any coffee!", the barista pouted and then went to greet a customer that just came in.  
When he was done and the girl had left again, a coffee-to-go in her hand, he came back do Daichi.  
"So, you said you were going to have lunch with him later? Does the lucky one know that, yet? Or is Kuroo going to spring that on him out of nowhere?"  
"I think he told him that I'll be joining them?", he offered.  
"It wont be just the two of you then? Hmpf. What does Kuroo think he's doing? You two need to have some quality-time. Alone!"  
"No! Noya! That's fine! I don't think I'd be able to say anything if I were to be alone with him right now. I'm actually glad Kuroo will be around."  
"That bad, huh?"  
"Yeah. I'm way too nervous.", Daichi admitted, blushing yet again, but he tried to hide his reddening face by gulping down the rest of his coffee.  
"Aw! Don't be! You're a cool guy! Kuroos friend would be an idiot if he wouldn't notice that! You'll do fine, Daichi!"  
"Maybe. I should get going now, though. Don't wanna be late."  
"Sure! Good luck, loverboy!", Noya grinned and took the money for Daichis coffee from him.  
Daichi glared at him, before he left the shop.

To: Trashcat, 12:56  
Subject: Lunch  
Text: So? What's the status? Is he coming?

From: Trashcat, 13:00  
Subject: Lunch  
Text: Yep, it went as I said it would. He wasn't too happy about it, but he's coming.

To: Trashcat, 13:02  
Subject: Lunch  
Text: Okay.

If he hadn't been nervous before -now he definitely was. He got sweaty palms and had to wipe them several times on his jeans. Luckily, when he arrived at the cafeteria, Suga didn't seem to be there, yet, but he could spot Kuroos notorious bedhead at one of the tables. Daichi went to get something to eat, before he joined his friend at the table.  
"Ah, you're here. For a minute I thought you might have chickened out at the last moment.", he all but drawled, and Daichi grumbled.  
"Shut up. I'm here, aren't I?"  
"Yep. Now, all that's missing is our main man for today!", Kuroo laughed, just as his phone chimed with the arrival of a text message.  
Daichi watched him read it with furrowed brows, before he typed out a quick answer.  
"Suga'll be a little late, it seems. His prof extended the lecture, apparently. He said we should start without him.", Kuroo sighed, while he pocketed his phone again.  
It was obvious he didn't believe that text.  
"That's fine." _'As long as he really comes'_, Daichi thought.  
He really didn't mean to be sarcastic -even if it was just in his own mind- but he couldn't help it. Not after what he had heard from Kuroo about Suga earlier.  
"I said we'll wait for him anyway. It shouldn't take him too long to get here."  
Sugawara-Kun did show up, looking quite disgruntled, but to Daichi, it didn't matter. He was happy to be able to see his crush up close. While Suga took his seat across from Kuroo, he spotted a beauty mark just beneath the blondes left eye. He hadn't noticed that before, and his mind was just about to come up with some ridiculously cheesy lines he could say about it, when he noticed that Kuroo stole practically half of Sugas meal. And before he could even stop himself -or think through what he actually was going to say- a stammered question left his mouth.  
"Uhm... I hope you don't mind me asking, but... uhm, you guys aren't dating, are you?"  
Gosh! What was he thinking?! Had he even been thinking at all?! The second the question left him, Daichis face flushed red again. If he kept going like that, it would become a new habit of his,probably. Luckily, he was distracted by Kuroos merry laughter, so that he almost didn't catch Sugas frown.  
"Oh hell no! I do have a boyfriend. Suga and I just have made a food-agreement. I get to eat all of his meat and fish, and he gets the fruits and vegetables I don't like."  
"But why? You need to eat meat!", Daichi all but blurted out, and he inwardly scolded himself for his athlete-instincts, that instantly kicked in.  
This time, he couldn't possibly miss Sugas disapproval, which he showed with an annoyed roll of his eyes, while Kuroo answered again.  
"Suga's a vegetarian, so it's fine. This way, nothing gets wasted. Oh, by the way! I believe you two haven't met officially before, have you? Daichi, this is Sugawara Koushi-Kun, my best man. Suga, this is Sawamura Daichi-Kun, the captain of my volleyball team.", Kuroo introduced them, which resulted in Suga looking at Daichi for the first time since he had joined them.  
The quick nod had Daichis heartbeat speeding up, even though he knew it was foolish. Ha was a grown man, wasn't he?  
"It's nice to meet you, Sugawara-Kun.", he managed to to greet the blonde properly, without stuttering and stumbling over his words -and without blushing _again_.  
It was obvious though, that Suga didn't think the same way. He hadn't even said one word yet, and Daichi was relieved, when Kuroo started to talk to him about nonsensical stuff. It helped him forget his uneasiness, though he stole a few glances at his crush now and then.  
Suga ate in silence, obviously not wanting to join in on their conversation, and when he was done not too much later, he all but jumped from his seat.  
"Well then, I gotta get going. See you later, Kuroo.", the blonde bid Kuroo good-bye and left, balancing his empty tray of food away.  
"He really doesn't like me, does he?", Daichi mumbled, when Suga was out of earshot.  
"He'll come around. Trust me."  
"How can you be so positive, Kuroo? He didn't even so much as look at me! I'm pretty sure he was quite annoyed at me just for being here."  
"That's a part of it, yes. But more than that he was angry at me. By the way, I had to promise I'd owe him big time in order for him to join us. I think I have earned myself a 'thank you' here, haven't I?", Kuroo teased, what caused Daichi to sigh.  
"I guess so. Thank you, cat."  
"Oh come on, don't take it to heart. Suga didn't even look at me once, in case you hadn't noticed, and neither did he talk to me, either. Except when he took his leave, that is."  
Daichis eyes widened in realization, and he nodded.  
"See? I told you. He's predictable. If you know that, and you know his reactions, you'll have no trouble to make him get along with you. I'm not telling you, though, so don't bother asking. That is something you need to figure out on your own. But I _will _help you a little, for now. Until he's no longer acting like it's the end of the world every time he has to be around you. So, see you tomorrow? Same time, same place?"  
There was nothing else for Daichi to do but nod.


	3. Chapter 3

When his friends left, it was almost midnight, and Suga was wide awake. He strolled through the rooms of his flat, looking for something to do, but he didn't find anything. Well, he _could_ get started on that essay for Takeda-Sensei, but he didn't really feel like it. He would do it, of course (here was never an assignment he didn't do), just not right now. He sighed and eventually slumped on his couch. Leaning back, he looked up at the ceiling, but he didn't really see it. His mind was blank, he wasn't really thinking of anything, when he suddenly jumped back on his feet and went over to his bedroom.  
His guitar was a little dusty and he would have to tune it first, in order to play it, but that was his own fault, he guessed, since he hadn't played in a long while. He took the instrument back into his living room, where he cleaned and tuned it, and then he made himself comfortable on his couch, the guitar in his hands. Slowly, he started picking at the wires and eventually eased his fingers into a calm melody. He hummed along silently, not really sure, what that song was, he was playing. He must have heard it before, somewhere, but he couldn't tell when or where. Probably somewhere on the radio or while he was out, shopping. It didn't really matter, though. He only played the guitar for his own enjoyment, when he felt like it, and he wasn't even that good. He could play most of his favourite songs and a few catchy melodies he had heard before, but that was it. Nothing special.  
When he finally went to sleep that night, he hoped the next day wouldn't be the same as this one had been. Luckily, he could sleep in.  
"Ack! I'm late! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!", Suga cussed, while he stumbled through his flat, getting ready in record-time.  
At one point, he fell over Freyja, and the feline definitely wasn't happy about that. She hissed at him, before she gave an annoyed flick of her tail and went to jump up on her favourite spot on the shelf, where she could follow Sugas stumbling around without being in the immediate danger of being tripped over again. The other two didn't even show themselves, instead waiting for Suga to leave the apartment, before the dared to come out.  
At the very least, Suga didn't forget to feed his cats before he left. It had happened once, and his flat had been a complete mess by the time he came back from college in the evening.  
For now, Suga hurried down the streets, his hair a complete mess and the buttons of his shirt only halfway done. Well, he wore a t-shirt underneath it, so it wasn't like he was showing too much skin or something like that.  
He was just arriving on the campus, when his phone went off. Stopping to a halt, he pulled it out and answered the call without looking for who was calling him.  
"Suga? Where are you? You're half an hour late! And you didn't even message me! What happened?", he could hear Kuroos concerned voice, as well as quite some background noise -probably chatter from the other people in the cafeteria.  
"Haah... I... overslept.", Suga rasped out, while he tried to catch his breath.  
"I'll be there in a minute. Just arrived on campus."  
"Geez. What's with you? The one time I don't come to wake you and pick you up, and you oversleep!"  
"Yeah, yeah, sorry about that. See you in a minute.", the blond ended the conversation and set out into a jog, headed for the cafeteria.  
His stomach grumbled -his last meal had been yesterday evening, and now it was 14:03. He really needed something to eat!  
When he arrived at their usual table, a tray of food in his hands, he frowned. Kuroo wasn't alone, like he had expected him to be. No, with him sat Sawamura-San. He wondered, what that was all about and gave his best friend a pointed look. Kuroo, however, didn't seem fazed at all, and greeted Suga cheerily.  
"Hey, Sugar-Chan. Daichi is sitting with us again today. You don't mind, do you?"  
And with that, he took Sugas tray from him and started to pick out all the fish.  
_'It's not like I get to choose, anyway, do I?'_, Suga thought, but didn't vocalize it.  
"Oh, and by the way, you should button up your shirt correctly."  
The blond frowned, but did as he was told, still ignoring Sawamura completely.  
"What is this, Kuroo? What are you planning?", he finally implored, knowing his best friend was up to something, bringing his teams captain to their lunch again -_and_ _without telling him_ beforehand, this time.  
"Me? I don't plan anything!"  
He didn't believe that -at all- and gave Kuroo a glare that chilled him right through to the bones. His black haired friend gulped, but didn't break under Sugas gaze, and finally Suga gave up.  
"Fine, bring him along, if you absolutely have to. But every time you do, I will get to ask another favour from you, Kuroo.", Suga grumbled.  
He knew, Kuroo wouldn't stop bringing Sawamura-San, but with this,he hoped he could keep the time he had to spend in the others presence considerably lesser than it would have been otherwise, without the condition.  
"Sugaaa! That's harsh!", Kuroo whined.  
"It's your own fault for bringing him in the first place. Now, let me have my tray. I'm starving!", the blond frowned and pulled his tray back to him, now laden with the doubled amount of vegetables and an extra apple.  
"Fine, fine. But nothing too ridiculous!", the cat tried to barter.  
"I wont make any promises on that one, Kuroo."  
"But, Sugar-Chaaan!"  
"No. You brought that on yourself.", Suga made himself clear and took a bite from his apple.  
He didn't even seem to care, that the object of their discussion was sitting right there with them and could hear everything he said.  
Sawamura, who had followed their discussion silently, sighed under his breath and tried not to draw Sugas attention to him, in case he would get to be reprimanded, too. Not, that he'd mind that, though. He would have been happy if he actually got to talk to his crush, but the guy completely ignored him, just like the day before.  
From then on, their lunch was a silent affair, but at least Suga didn't inhale his food, like he had done previously. And the silence didn't feel too overbearing. It wasn't exactly comfortable, either, but the three of them felt something like reluctant acceptance settle between them. That made Kuroo grin quite contently, and Suga couldn't possibly miss that -not with the two of them sitting opposite of each other.  
He furrowed his brows in thought, but didn't say anything, having decided to later confront his best friend about this... situation. He had figured by now that Kuroo wouldn't say anything, as long as Sawamura-San was around. Well, he actually had his suspicions on what his friend was trying to pull on him, but right now that was hardly more than a wild guess, at best. Before he revealed his assumption to Kuroo, he needed to have more proof than just two lunches in just as many days, to which Kuroo brought his volleyball-teams' captain.  
"Ah, Kuroo, before I forget -I was hoping we could go over some of the new tactics for the team?", Sawamura-San finally broke the silence, when they were almost done with their meals.  
Suga actually perked up at that, but he tried not to look too curious. He had stopped playing volleyball. Even though he loved the sport -still did, actually.  
"Sure. Show me, what you got.", Kuroo agreed and with him waited, while his captain pulled a few rumpled sheets of loose paper out of his bag.  
On them, Suga could see several sketches of courts, dots with names under them and drawn arrows, pointing in this or that direction, though he couldn't make too much of them from his perspective. Kuroo and Sawamura-San started discussing them, while Suga finished his meal. He was about to pack up and take his leave, when Kuroo spoke up.  
"What do you think of these, Suga?", and with that, he shoved the papers over the table to his friend.  
The blond looked sceptically at Kuroo, but accepted the papers, anyway. He was just too curious. He took his sweet time studying them, though, knowing fully well, that this irked his best friend -before he sighed and put them back on the table.  
"There are quite some interesting ideas on them, but I doubt your team will be able to perform most of these attacks right now."  
Now, don't get him wrong, he didn't mean to affront the two players, he was just stating an obvious truth. Surprisingly, it wasn't Kuroo, who answered him, but Sawamura-San.  
"I know that. And with both of our setters gone, it's going to be even harder. Our first-years can't set at all. But we need those strategies to work, or else we wont be able to get though the next tournaments."  
Suga contemplated for a moment, looking directly at him.  
"That's bad luck, then. You should better go train them, I guess.", he eventually answered calmly, though not with too much interest.  
"Wish we could. I'm no good as a setter, and Daichi isn't, either. If we had at least someone, who could show them, or would play with us...", Kuroo brought himself back into the conversation.  
"Are you implying that I should join your team and start playing again, Kuroo?", Suga frowned.  
His best friend blinked, genuinely surprised. He really hadn't thought of that before!  
"I'm not. But that _would_ be a great idea, actually. Why don't you try?", he drawled, and Suga was just about to answer, when Sawamura-San spoke again.  
"You don't have to join the team, if you don't want to, Sugawara-Kun, but it would be great if you could show the first-years some basic techniques, I guess. Kuroo actually told me that you were playing as your High Schools starting setter throughout all three years. Someone with your experience would do our team surely some good."  
The blond sighed. He had no real reason to oppose to that, except that he would have to be around Sawamura-San even more, if he agreed. But if he stopped lying to himself; he actually would like to start playing again...  
"I don't know. I'll think about it.", he eventually mumbled.  
"Oh come on! He said you didn't have to join! Just teach the first-years!", Kuroo urged him on.  
"Besides, those guys wont bite you, you know? And you usually aren't this indecisive about thing like this. What's stopping you, Suga?"  
"Nothing, Kuroo. I don't know, okay? I said I'll think about it, and that's it! Got it?", Suga actually snapped at him and looked shocked, the moment he realized what he just had said.  
"Ack! I didn't mean to be so rude! Sorry, Kuroo!", he immediately apologized, clapping his hands together in front of his face and bowing his head.  
His best friend nodded, accepting the apology.  
"That's fine. Though you better tell me later what's it is, that's gotten you all upset. And no lame excuses, you hear me?"  
He seemed to have noticed something was up and that Suga hadn't told them the entire truth of that matter. Which he hadn't, obviously.  
"We'll see about that. Oh, we should get going, or we're going to be late.", the blond avoided a direct answer to that question and from that point, their conversation drifted to different matters.

From: Cheshire Cat, 15:17  
Subject: Earlier  
Text: So? Spill it. What's going on? Why don't you want to join the team? It can't be just because of Daichi, right?

To: Cheshire Cat, 15:20  
Subject: Earlier  
Text: That's nothing to text about, actually. But you're right, this isn't entirely about Sawamura-San.

From: Cheshire Cat, 15:23  
Subject: Earlier  
Text: Okay. I'm coming over tonight. And you're going to tell me _in detail_ about your reasons. Also, I want to know why you stopped in the first place. Back then you never answered my questions.

To: Cheshire Cat, 15:28  
Subject: Earlier  
Text: Well, I guess I had that one coming for me, hadn't I? You can come over.

From: Cheshire Cat, 15:31  
Subject: Earlier  
Text: You absolutely had. The usual time? Should I bring anything?

To: Cheshire Cat, 15:32  
Subject: Earlier  
Text: Nah, only if you want anything special to eat.

From: Cheshire Cat, 15:34  
Subject: Earlier  
Text: Okay. See you tonight, then.

Suga sighed. He knew he would have to tell someone, eventually, and maybe it was for the best that it would be Kuroo, but he still wasn't a hundred percent sure. Meaningless to say, he wasn't able to concentrate on the rest of his lectures for today, at all. There were too many thoughts swirling in his mind that he tried to sort out. He also tried to prepare some kind of a plan for what he was going to tell Kuroo, but it didn't work. His thoughts were too jumbled, so he eventually gave up on it.  
That evening, when Kuroo came, Suga already had prepared a can of tea and a big bowl of cookies -he would need them, to get through with his tale- which he had placed on the small coffee-table in his living room. Kuroo hadn't brought anything, but Suga had been expecting that, actually.  
"Make yourself comfortable. I'll just get the mugs.", the blond ordered and shooed his friend to the living room.  
Kuroo followed his orders and plopped himself down on the couch, where one of Sugas cats joined him immediately. Sigyn had taken a liking to Kuroo right from the start, and whenever the dark haired male would be over, she came to cuddle with him. Suga sometimes threatened Kuroo to give Sigyn to him, when he was being especially affectionate to her, but both of them knew that those were all nothing but empty threats. Suga would never give one of his cats away.  
When the blond came back, two mugs in hand, and sat down next to Kuroo, he sighed. He still didn't know how to go about what he was going to tell his best friend. Luckily, his friend knew he should let Suga take his time, until he was ready to talk. It was the best course of action -in this kind of situation- not to rush Suga.  
"Well, you see...", Suga eventually started and then took a bite from a cookie.  
"I've stopped playing volleyball, because... well..."  
Ugh! This was dump! He shouldn't have said he'll tell Kuroo! What was he thinking?! His friend on the other hand just raised an eyebrow in question, when Suga stopped talking again.  
"I guess... I stopped, because I was afraid. Stupid, isn't it?", the blond mumbled, almost inaudibly.  
But Kuroo had a bats' ears and understood every word, anyway.  
"Afraid? Afraid of what?", he wanted to know, pouring himself and Suga some of the tea his friend had prepared.  
"Not afraid of _what_, afraid of _whom_.", Suga clarified, visibly tensing.  
The black haired male cocked his head to the side, showing that he was intently listening to his friend.  
"Uhm... you see... back then, in our summer holidays before our first year of college... You remember I went on a vacation with my parents, right?"  
Kuroo only nodded.  
"Okay, so... we went to that one town, not too far away from here, actually, and -well..."  
Suga took a deep breath, preparing himself for what he was about to say and leant back on the couch, looking up at the ceiling.  
"One night, I was out pretty late, because I wanted to get a few snacks... The thing is, while I was on my way back from the store, I... I got attacked. It was a group of people my age, and at first I wasn't even afraid of them. But... let's just say, things got really bad really quick. I don't want to go into the details."  
Kuroos demeanour had completely changed by now. His usual calm, relaxed behaviour had vanished, and instead he was emitting a dark aura, that Suga -would he have to describe it- identified as cold blooded killing intend.  
"That's why you wouldn't meet up with us when you came back, wasn't it?", he asked, no hints of emotion whatsoever in his voice.  
It was just... cold. Suga knew though, that this coldness wasn't directed at him, but at those guys that beat him up that night.  
"Yeah. I didn't want you guys to see me all battered and bruised and everything."  
He hadn't wanted them to think that he was weak, because he wasn't. He refused to believe that, despite what those thugs had said.  
"Figured. So, what happened then?"  
The blond sighed.  
"Well, we pressed charges against them and I never thought I'd see those guys again, but, that day... At the try-outs. They were there. All of them. They were all on the team, Kuroo. I don't think they recognized me that day, but I didn't want to take chances on that and quitted. There you have it. That's the story."  
Kuroo growled.  
"Are they still playing?"  
"No. when the process was over, they left college, I think. At least I haven't seen them around in a long while."  
"Hmpf. That's something, at least. But you still don't really want to come back, do you?"  
"Wish I knew. I know I love to play, that's for sure, but I still haven't recovered, I guess. I'm still thinking they might show up at some point again. I know that's completely ridiculous, though."  
"No, it's not. It's not ridiculous. Don't you dare say that again, Suga! That's a completely normal reaction to what has happened. It's understandable."  
Suga nodded slowly, while Kuroo clapped him on the shoulder. By now, the blond had eaten all the cookies, and the tea was getting cold.  
"Part of me knows that. It's just... hard to accept, I guess."  
"That's okay. Now. I wont pressure you anymore to come back playing or teach the first-years. I can understand that you'd like it better to stay away from the gym, except when we're having a match.", Kuroo winked at him.  
"That's not true! I go there all the time to pick you up after practice!", Suga frowned, which had Kuroo laughing.  
"Ah, sorry, I forgot that, Sugar-Chan."  
"_Kuroo._"  
"Sorry, sorry. I'll stop now."  
"It'd be better for your own good."  
"Sure."  
After that, they both stayed quiet for a while, before Suga spoke up again.  
"You know, I really _do want_ to start playing again. And I can't let myself always be controlled by my fears, can I?"  
The black haired male nodded solemnly.  
"Yep. So that means you're coming back? Even if you have to be around Daichi all the time?"  
Suga furrowed his brows in thought. He had completely forgotten about that guy.  
"Maybe. For now, I think I'll come to see what your first-years are capable of and probably teach them some basics."  
Kuroo nodded.  
"Sounds good enough to me. You're coming tomorrow, then?"  
"Yeah, I think so."  
"Great! I'm sure Daichi will be happy about that!", he grinned.  
"Speaking of, why are you bringing him to lunch, even though you know I can't stand that guy?", Suga implored.  
"Huh? Why can't I bring a friend once in a while?", his friend asked innocently, and Suga tsked.  
"I know you are planning something. I know you, Kuroo, I can tell when you're up to something no good. So you'd better just spill it already."  
"Hmmm? But that would be no fun, wouldn't it? Besides, I promised I wouldn't tell!"  
"So there _is_ something!", Suga exclaimed, exasperated.  
"You are not trying to set me up with him, are you? Kuroo?", the blond wanted to know.  
"Hmm? I wonder.", his friend smirked.  
It caused Suga to look at him sceptically.  
"What in the world makes you think that he and I would make a good couple? And aside from that: I'm not even gay, so why would I date a guy in the first place?", the blond tried to reason with Kuroo.  
"You don't know if you're gay or not until you actually try it. Or at least had a relationship with a girl and realized that the thought of her naked doesn't turn you on in the slightest. You never were in a relationship before, heck, Suga, you haven't even had your first kiss yet! How can you know that you're a perfectly straight guy? You don't, and don't try to prove me wrong, because you _can't._"  
Kuroos little speech had Suga blushing, and he clasped his hands in front of his face in order to cover it. Then, he groaned in dismay, because_ Kuroo was right._ He didn't know if he was gay or not, since he never had a love interest in neither a male nor female person, and he really never had kissed anyone before. -Well, not on the lips, that is. He kissed Shimizu-Chan on the cheeks to greet her, but that was about it, when it came to the experience he had on kissing.  
"Still, that doesn't mean you have to set me up with Sawamura-San. What makes you think, that would be a good idea?", he wanted to know, once he had calmed down a few seconds later.  
"My intuition, I guess? Come on, Suga. Daichi really isn't such a bad guy as you make him out to be. Why don't you give him a chance? Get to know him a little, maybe become friends with him? I'm not saying you have to date him right away -or at all, if you really don't like him then- but do try to give him the benefit of the doubt, will you?", Kuroo suggested, and Suga furrowed his brows in thought.  
"I don't know, Kuroo."  
And with that, he ended the topic.


	4. Chapter 4

From: Trashcat, 12:26  
Subject: Lunch  
Text: Don't forget to join us again!

To: Trashcat, 12:28  
Subject: Lunch  
Text: I wont. But don't you think he'll be mad if I show up two days in a row?

From: Trashcat, 12:29  
Subject: Lunch  
Text: Maybe. But it's worth it, isn't it?

To: Trashcat, 12:30  
Subject: Lunch  
Text: Guess so.

From: Trashcat, 12:33  
Subject: Lunch  
Text: Don't be so moody, Daichi!

To: Trashcat, 12:34  
Subject: Lunch  
Text: I'm not!

From: Trashcat, 12:35  
Subject: Lunch  
Text: Yes you are! I can practically see you glaring at your phone right now!

Daichi sighed. Kuroo knew him too well. But he guessed almost two years of volleyball practices and hanging out together did that to you. Well, that, and Kuroos sharp personality. That guy noticed absolutely everything. Actually it had surprised Daichi that the cat hadn't picked up on his crush on Suga way earlier. He had been _so_ obvious about it, he couldn't even-!  
"Oy, Daichi! Stop daydreaming! I'm trying to have a conversation with you!", Noya interrupted his train of thought.  
"Hah? Oh, sorry, I guess. What did you ask?"  
Daichi scratched the back of his head sheepishly.  
"I wanted to know how yesterdays' lunch went!"  
This left Daichi to sigh yet again. Yesterday, huh?  
"I guess it could have gone better. He left after ten minutes. And for the time he was there, he didn't even say so much as one word.", he muttered, before he downed half of his coffee.  
"Oh? Is he a shy guy?", Noya wanted to know, with honest concern in his eyes.  
"No, I don't think that was the reason."  
He knew perfectly well why Suga hadn't said a word when he had sat down with them, but he wouldn't tell Noya. The barista was too much of a chatterbox, and with his job... No, that was too much of a risk and Daichi wasn't willing to take his chances.  
"Eh? But what other reason could he have for not talking?"  
"I'm not sure.", Daichi tried to shrug it off. He knew, lying wasn't the best idea, but this was kind of a white lie, so he would be forgiven -well, he hoped he would be.  
"Did you at least try to talk to him?"  
"Uhm... well, I... I introduced myself, but that didn't go very well.", he hung his head and Noya actually petted his hair in a comforting manner.  
"Don't worry. I don't know that guy, but I know you're a good guy, Daichi. That crush of yours will come to notice that soon enough. And maybe he just had a tough day and was in a bad mood yesterday. I'm sure the next time you'll see him, he'll talk to you!", the barista tried to cheer him up, and Daichi actually managed a small, but hopeful smile, before he took another sip from his coffee.  
"We'll see about that, I guess. Thanks for cheering me up, Noya."  
"No problem! You know I always have your back, cap!", the short man grinned widely.  
"Yeah. Oh, before I forget: Bokuto is having a party over at Akaashis' on Saturday. He said you're welcome, too."  
The barista practically beamed at him.  
"Really?"  
"Yes. Oh, and I _think_ we might just be able to convince Asahi to come, too. That hermit can't stay holed up in his room and study all the time."  
Daichi grumbled the last part, but that didn't matter to the barista, who had stopped listening midway through.  
"Oooh! Awesome! Then it'll be even more fun! When does it start, anyway?"  
"I think at around ten? But you better ask Bokuto about that to be sure. The guys said they'll have booze and everything else prepared, so you don't need to bring anything, I guess."  
Noya nodded, making a mental note of that information.  
"Great! I'll be there! Say thanks to Bokuto for me!"  
"Sure will.", Daichi smiled and finished his coffee.  
He still had some time left until he was meeting up with Kuroo so he had time to chat with Noya a little while longer, but he didn't like the taste of cold coffee (that stuff was disgusting), so he drank it before it could cool off too much.  
In the cafeteria, he had to wait for Kuroo to arrive, even though he was a little late himself. His chat with Nishinoya had distracted him from the flow of time, and when he finally noticed, he was late already. He was lucky Kuroo didn't care for such things, though.  
"Ah, sorry, Daichi! I got caught up by Nekomata-Sensei. He wanted to talk about my last essay...", Kuroo apologized, but Daichi waved it off. It didn't matter.  
"It's fine. I just got here myself."  
"Great! Then let's get something to eat! Suga should be here any minute, too."  
"If you say so.", Daichi smiled and they went to stand in the queue to wait for their turn.  
"He should. Today it's only afternoon-courses for him, so he always just shows up on campus around lunch.", Kuroo explained and Daichi nodded.  
But when Suga _still_ wasn't there half an hour later, Kuroo got restless.  
"That's not like him. He usually at least messages me if he can't make it.", he wondered and unlocked his phone in order to check if maybe he had missed a text or call from his best friend.  
"Nothing, huh?", he sighed when the screen was blank, void of any new messages or missed calls.  
"Why don't you just give him a call, though? Then you know what's up. I mean, the worst that could happen is he wouldn't pick up, right?", Daichi suggested.  
"Yeah, you're probably right. I'm gonna try that.", and with that he was already dialling Sugas number.  
After a moment of silence, where Kuroo listened to the tut-tut which indicated that the call was connecting he started speaking into his phone. So Suga had answered and now Daichi could listen to Kuroos slightly concerned voice, while he talked to his best friend. When the call ended not a minute later, Kuroo shook his head, disbelieve written all over his face.  
"Seriously, that guy!", he exclaimed, "It's the one day I _don't_ come to pick him up and what does he do? He oversleeps! Majorly!"  
Kuroo grumbled to himself and Daichi patted him on the back to calm him down.  
"Well, he is on his way, isn't he?", he tried to lighten Kuroos mood, and the dark haired male nodded.  
"Yeah, he should be here in a minute or two, more or less. He said he just arrived on campus."  
Daichi nodded again, thinking about the route Sugawara-Kun would have to take to get to the cafeteria. They weren't that far from the main entrance, so he was probably right with his estimation. Just about a minute later the blond arrived at their table, looking a little dishevelled with his mussed up hair, an only halfway buttoned up shirt and a little sweat shimmering on his forehead -probably from his rush to get here. His looks had Daichis heart speeding up and the blood rushed to his cheeks. Suga looked really good, like, _really, really, really_ good. Too good to be true. Daichi had to bite himself on his tongue to snap out of his thoughts, so that he could pay attention to what Kuroo hand his crush were discussing. Their conversation seemed to be in full swing already -he must have been out of it longer than he'd realized.  
"...any promises on that one, Kuroo.", he heard Sugawara chide his best friend and wondered, what that could be about.  
He should have paid more attention!  
"But, Sugar-Chaaan!", Kuroo whined but it didn't seem to faze the blond -just as it wouldn't have fazed Daichi himself, had it been directed at him.  
"No. You brought that on yourself."  
And that was Sugawara-Kuns final word to whatever it was that the two of them just discussed. Daichi huffed. Sugawara still hadn't even acknowledged his presence. -Well, not while he was actually paying attention. For all he knew, he could have done that while Daichi was spacing out earlier. Then he'd have no one but himself to blame for that. He sighed heavily, when he thought about that, but didn't try to start a conversation. Instead, the three of them settled to eat their lunch in silence and Daichi noticed just now, that Kuroo and Suga had split up their food again. He should have been expecting that, though.  
"Ah, Kuroo, before I forget -I was hoping we could go over some of the new tactics for the team?", Daichi finally broke the silence when they were almost done with eating.  
He didn't like that awkward feeling, that came along with it -at least to him it felt like that- and he wanted to get rid of that feeling. Maybe talking about volleyball would do the trick.  
"Sure. Show me, what you got.", Kuroo agreed and shovelled down the last few bites of his lunch while Daichi pulled some rumpled sheets of paper from his bag.  
The two of them immersed themselves in a discussion about player-positions, attacks, attack-patterns and tactics, based on the sketched out ideas Daichi had noted on the papers. He had found some interesting techniques on the internet and thought they might help his team to win a few matches in the next tournaments. Both, Kuroo and himself weren't so sure those strategies and attacks would work out, though. Not with their current team, at least.  
"What do you think of these, Suga?", Kuroo finally asked his friend, who hadn't taken part in their conversation up until now.  
The blond took his time in analysing the tactics and moves, and when he finally put the papers back down, Daichi knew what Sugawara was going to say. Well, let's say he was 90 % sure. The other 10% were for the possibility of him not answering at all, or not giving a relevant one. But he was fairly certain that wouldn't happen.  
"There are quite some interesting ideas on them, but I doubt your team will be able to perform most of these attacks right now."  
Though he didn't back up his statement with any explicit reasons on why he thought so, Daichi knew that Suga was right. After all, he and Kuroo had come to the same conclusion.  
"I know that. And with both of our setters gone, it's going to be even harder. Our first-years can't set at all. But we need those strategies to work, or else we wont be able to get though the next tournaments.", he explained the teams current situation, just to be surprised by the blond, who was now directly looking at him.  
"That's bad luck, then. You should better go train them, I guess.", he addressed Daichi calmy, though he was clearly emitting an aura of disinterest towards him.  
Before he could come up with an answer, Kuroo spoke up, though, drawing their attention to him. Daichi listened to Kuroos and Sugawaras short exchange and then chimed in just when Kuroo suggested for Suga to become their teams setter. As much as Daichi was thrilled by that idea; he could see that Suga clearly wasn't, and he was not going to push him into something he wasn't willing to do.  
"You don't have to join the team, if you don't want to, Sugawara-Kun, but it would be great if you could show the first-years some basic techniques, I guess. Kuroo actually told me that you were playing as your High Schools starting setter throughout all three years. Someone with your experience would do our team surely some good."  
Sugawara-Kun sighed.  
"I don't know. I'll think about it."  
This reply was more than enough for Daichi -he couldn't possibly ask more from the blond, not while he still didn't know him very well, anyway. Kuroo, on the other hand didn't seem like he was very pleased with that and tried to convince his best friend.  
"Oh come on! He said you didn't have to join! Just teach the first-years! Besides, those guys wont bite you, you know? And you usually aren't this indecisive about things like this. What's stopping you, Suga?"  
To their own surprise, Suga snapped at that and gave Kuroo quite the harsh answer to that, though he seemed to immediately regret his words and apologized in the same breath. Kuroo accepted it, but he demanded that Suga'd better tell him what was wrong with him.  
"We'll see about that. Oh, we should get going, or we're going to be late.", the blond avoided a direct answer and managed to successfully change the topic of their conversation.  
After that little episode was over, Daichi concentrated mostly on listening to the blond and Kuroo bickering about trivial matters, not really bothering to join in. He was content to listen and learn new things about his crush in that way. Besides, being the quiet observer, had its perks, too. He was able to watch Suga, to observe the gestures he made while talking animately, the way his warm brown eyes lit up when he was able to give a smug return to one of Kuroos teasing remarks, the way he smiled wholeheartedly and the playful hits Kuroo received more than once when he said something apparently offending (the black haired one seemed to be used to those whacks, though, and didn't even bother to try and dodge them). Daichi learnt that he liked the sound of Sugawaras laugh and the way he smiled. Sadly, their time together soon came to an end when the bell for the afternoon courses rang and they had to separate ways.

From: Trashcat, 22:37  
Subject: Volleyball  
Text: You are one lucky man, captain! I got our blond angel to come to practice tomorrow. He said he wanted to see what the first-years are capable of and maybe train them! Am I not great?

To: Trashcat, 22:46  
Subject: Volleyball  
Text: Wow! How did you get him to agree? You didn't blackmail him, did you?

From: Trashcat, 22:48  
Subject: Volleyball  
Text: No! I didn't! What do you think of me? I was over at his place earlier and we talked for a while. He told me why he didn't want to come, but we worked it out.

To: Trashcat, 22:49  
Subject: Volleyball  
Text: It wasn't because of me, was it?

From: Trashcat, 22:53  
Subject: Volleyball  
Text: No, you are not the reason. I can't tell you why, since he made me promise not to tell anyone, though I wouldn't do that anyway. It's a story he'd better tell you himself.

To: Trashcat,22:55  
Subject: Volleyball  
Text: I'm relieved to hear that. And I wont make you tell me. Of course I'd like to know, but I guess that has to wait until he eventually tells me out of his own accord.

From: Trashcat, 22:59  
Subject: Volleyball  
Text: Well, then you better start working hard! I'm bringing Suga to tomorrows practice, then. You can tell the others. See you then!

To: Trashcat, 23:00  
Subject: Volleyball  
Text: Will do. See you tomorrow!

The day couldn't go by fast enough for Daichi. His courses were dragging on for forever it seemed, and he wasn't able to concentrate very much, since his thoughts kept to wander off to a certain blond guy every so often. Not that it actually bothered him to think about Sugawara-Kun, but he _should _pay attention to Ukais courses, since the man had the annoying habit of making them do knowledge-test of his last few lessons every other day. And Daichi didn't want to fail any of these. It hadn't happened before, but he didn't want to put his relatively good marks at risk. Of course, one failed test generally wasn't that big of a deal, but he'd rather not take his chances on that. He was just happy when the last course was finally over and he could head over to the gym.  
Some of the others were already there when he arrived and he listened to their mindless chatter while he changed into his sports attire. Kuroo and Sugawara-Kun hadn't arrived yet and Daichi guessed it was intentional, so that he could prepare the team for the new guy. When most of them had assembled in the gym, standing in a loose circle and doing their stretches, Daichi announced it.  
"Guys, we'll have someone joining us for practice today. Some of you might know him, he's friends with Kuroo-Kun. His name is Sugawara Koushi and he'll help the first years with their setting. Please be nice to him, everyone.", he explained and watched their reactions.  
Some looked slightly confused, others delighted, eager, even. The latter seemed to know Sugawara-Kun, Daichi guessed. Sure enough, one of the other second years spoke up.  
"I didn't know Suga played volleyball! How did you get him to join us, Captain?"  
"I didn't. He isn't joining the team. He just agreed to help us out with our problems in setting, since he played as a setter in his High School.", Daichi explained.  
He wished Suga would join them, and he really hoped the blond would change his mind about that later, but he wouldn't rush him. He'd let him get used to the team and their antics first, and when he was still around by then, he would ask him again.  
"Eh? Why isn't he joining? He isn't in any other clubs, is he? And when he's coming today, he should have the time to come regularly, right?"  
"I don't know why he wont join, but I wont pressure him about that. It's his choice. Now, go and run a few laps, everyone!", and with that, they continued their warm up.  
Not too much later they were stopped by Kuroos loud voice, though.  
"Captain, we're here! Everyone, come on over!"  
They all gathered around Kuroo and his friend, who was standing right next to him, taking the curious looks with the calmness of someone who was used to the treatment. Before Kuroo could introduce him, though, the blond had let his eyes wander over the little group already and grinned widely at them.  
"Hello! I'm Sugawara Koushi! I'm here to teach you a few tricks for setting! It's nice meeting you all."  
After that the team did a short round of introductions, everyone said their names and which positions they played and then they went back to warming up, Kuroo and Suga joining in.  
Daichi couldn't help but follow Suga with his eyes. The blond looked absolutely gorgeous in his training shorts. And those pale thighs... No! Stop! Don't you dare go there, Daichi! He scolded himself for such inappropriate thoughts and instead fixated his eyes on a spot on the wall in front of him. It wasn't long until he gazed back at Suga again, though. The blond was bending over, stretching, and Daichi inhaled sharply. Damn, that ass! He bit his tongue until he tasted blood in an attempt to punish himself. It helped. A little. When he assumed everyone was done with warming up their muscles, he announced this evenings plan for their training.  
"So, the first-years will train setting with Sugawara-Kun first. I trust you lot to behave yourselves. The others will do spiking and receives. We'll change groups later, and if there's still time after that, we're playing a match!"  
Shouts of "Yes!" and "Yes, Captain!" echoed through the gym and they all went to their assigned tasks. Daichi allowed himself to watch Sugawara-Kun every now and then, in order to see how he was coping with the rambunctious first-years, but he didn't need to worry. Surprisingly -or not so much so, depends on your point of view- the troublesome lot was diligently following the blonds orders and tips. Everything seemed to go smoothly.  
"I knew it, he is doing it as if he's never done anything else but teaching them.", Kuroo purred into Daichis ear, pulling the captain out of his thoughts.  
"If you say so. He does look like he's enjoying himself, though."  
"Yeah. He really wanted to start playing again."  
"Then why didn't he? If you like what you do, do it and don't let anyone or anything stop you from doing it, I say."  
Kuroo sighed, twirling a ball between his palms.  
"He... had his reasons, I guess."  
"I know, you're not telling me. That's fine, though. Don't sweat it.", Daichi shrugged and went to receive a spike from Asahi.  
Not long after that conversation, he called out for the groups to switch. Now the first-years were doing spike- and receive-practice and the second-years went to train with Sugawara. Unsurprisingly, Suga was easy to be around and everyone seemed to be relaxed and at ease around him while they chatted away with him amiably. They never stopped doing their tosses and tried to focus on Sugas tips to get better, though. Daichi thought the blond would avoid him -seeing as he was quite disliked by him- and not be given any advice on how to improve his skills, but he was proven wrong soon enough.  
"Sawamura-San. You lean too far back while you set. This way, you loose your balance way too easy and you have less control over the ball. Try to keep your back straight. If the ball goes over your head, take a step back instead of leaning back. You don't want to topple over, do you?", his crush advised friendly enough and Daichi nodded earnestly.  
"Thaks for the advice, Sugawara-Kun. I'll try to remember that.", he mumbled and instantly changed his posture to the one that had been suggested to him. To his own surprise, it went pretty well for a while, but then a ball sailed over his head and he fell back to his old habits. Getting rid of them certainly wasn't easy! He didn't notice his mistake, however, and yelped in surprise when he felt a jab to his back.  
"Ouch, hey!", he turned around to give whomever it was who had dared jabbing him a slating.  
He was rendered speechless, though, when he realized it had been Sugawara.  
"You were falling back to old habits there, captain. Better get rid of them fast."  
Later Daichi was_ so_ sure he saw the hint of a playful, mostly mischievous smile tug on the setters lips, but he was too much in a daze at that moment to fully register it before the blond turned away again. His eyes followed his crushs statue over to Kuroo, who was fooling around more than actually focusing on practice, and he couldn't help but think that maybe there was an underlying message in those words that just had been directed at him.


	5. Chapter 5

Suga would have been lying if he'd say he wasn't a little nervous today. It was only just lunch time, he was waiting for his best friend to show up and was a nervous wreck on the inside already. Outside, he was as calm and collected as ever. No one could have guessed it. He was glad when Kuroo finally showed up -for once thankfully without Sawamura-San in tow. Another lunch with that guy was nothing Suga needed right now.  
"What took you?", he wanted to know, once Kuroo sat down.  
They started to do their usual routine of sorting through their meals and Kuroo took his time in answering the question.  
"I had to take care of Kenma. He caught a cold, apparently."  
"Oh, too bad, huh? And just when he agreed to go to that party with you, too."  
"Yeah. Can't be helped, I guess. I'm not sure if I'm going now, though."  
"Why not? You know half of the people on campus anyway. There should be enough people for you to hang out with, right?", Suga pulled his tray back to himself and started eating, as did Kuroo.  
"Sure. It's just, we promised."  
Kuroo pouted, and Suga could understand his distress well enough, he thought.  
"Okay, then stay at home and study instead?"  
"That's what you would do, Sugar-Chan! I can't do that, you know me!"  
"True. Then what do you plan to do?", he implored and Kuroo sighed in response.  
"I don't know. Would you come with me? You're the only one I can ask now!"  
"Me? Kuroo, you know I don't like parties very much."  
"I know. But you're my best man, Suga. Pretty please?", Kuroo made his best puppy face for Suga.  
"I don't know, Kuroo. Who's party is it, anyway?"  
"Do you know Akaashi? The guy who part-times in the IT-Department?"  
"Oh, you mean Keiji-Kun? Sure, I know him.", Suga nodded, no longer entirely against the idea.  
"Yep, that's him. So, the party is at his place and there shouldn't be too many people. Please?"  
"Fine, I'll come."  
"Yay! Thanks, Suga! You're the best!", Kuroo cheered.  
"So, you are still coming to practice later, right?"  
Sugas face fell. He had just forgotten about that fact and was able to relax a little, and now Kuroo brought it right back up.  
"I said so, didn't I?"  
He was not one to back out of what he had said he would do. Even if he hadn't exactly promised it.  
"Okay. Because I already told Daichi you were coming. You wont believe how happy he was to hear that."  
The blonds face scrunched as he wrinkled his nose in dismay, but he didn't say anything to that. He just thought that their team must be really bad off, when the guy was that happy to hear that he was going to help out.  
"Oh, come on, Suga! Benefit of the doubt? He never did anything bad to you, did he? Give him a chance, will you?", Kuroo frowned and Suga sighed.  
"Fine. Benefit of the doubt it is, then. You wouldn't shut up otherwise anyway... damn cat!", the blond merely grumbled the last part, but his friend would be able to understand it, nonetheless.  
Oh, how he would love to wipe that shit eating grin off of Kuroos face! His best friend chuckled, knowing exactly what Suga thought right now.  
"Correct, Sugar-Chan. You know me so well! Now, do I need to pick you up later or are we going to meet at the gym?"  
The blond frowned.  
"I believe I'll be able to find that place without a damn Cheshire cat accompanying me, so thanks, but no thanks. I can manage."  
"Okay. Practice starts at around seven, so do try not to be too late!"  
"Why would I?"  
"Because I know even though you agreed to give Daichi the benefit of the doubt you'll still try to spend as little time in his presence as possible.", Kuroo explained.  
Damn. That guy really knew him all too well, didn't he? Suga sighed. There was no need to say anything to that. He'd be digging his own grave with that, so he kept quiet and concentrated on finishing his lunch instead.  
His courses were a welcome distraction for Suga. It helped him forget that dreaded volleyball practice. At least for a little while, that is. He was just happy that he was able to concentrate today. Another day of spacing out in his courses wouldn't do him any good. And he still had to write that essay for Take-Chan. Exactly why again did he agree to tagging along to that party with Kuroo tomorrow? Oh, yes. Because Kenma was sick and Suga was a good best friend who couldn't say no to any of his friends requests -even if he should. He should really work on that, shouldn't he?  
Suga sighed and looked over the notes he had taken so far. Takeda-Sensei was rambling something about a chemical reaction between people who interacted with each other and Suga briefly wondered if that would happen to him and Sawamura-San too, once he got his act together and actually honestly talked to the guy without resenting every second of the interaction. Surprised by his own thoughts, Sugas eyebrows nearly retracted into his hairline before he dismissed the thought. He really shouldn't think about stuff like that. It was useless to worry about things that might never happen, so he pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind and went back to taking notes. Chances were that he would need them for his essay. Which he, by the way, should start tonight if he wanted to get it done without having to pull all-nighters.  
When his courses were over, he dawdled on purpose and was actually the last one to leave the lecture hall. He wondered if he should catch up to Take-Chan and question him on some parts of todays' lecture, just so he could be a little late for practice. However, he knew Kuroo would most likely come fetch him if he took too long, so he opted for just going already, accepting his supposedly cruel fate. His best friend was already waiting for him, when he arrived at the gyms entrance.  
"You're late, I knew it."  
"Hey! You said _at around seven_. Not seven sharp.", Suga pouted, remembering Kuroos words from lunch.  
Besides, it was only 19:05, so what was the big deal anyway?  
"Ugh, fine. Let's go change, then. I'm sure the others are already warming up."  
The blond hummed his agreement and followed his friend into the gyms locker rooms. By the time he and Kuroo entered the court, Sugas nervousness had faded completely. Now he was only left with giddy anticipation, itching to hold a volleyball in his hands again. He wasn't bothered at all when Kuroo called out to the whole team to announce their arrival and they huddled around them. For a second, he let his eyes wander over the gathered people, noticing a few faces from his courses.  
"Hello! I'm Sugawara Koushi! I'm here to teach you a few tricks for setting! It's nice meeting you all.", he introduced himself, before Kuroo could actually make a show out of it -and by the face he pulled Suga was sure he had intended to do just that.  
Lucky him that he was able to see through Kuroos plans most of the time. After his introduction, the team followed suit and the blond tried his best to memorize most of the names before they went back to their warm ups.  
Suga was glad he had kept himself fit and in form, even when he didn't play volleyball for the past one and a half years; if he hadn't, he would've had trouble of keeping up with the team now. Of course, he had to pocket some losses, though. His tosses weren't as accurate as they had been back in his High School days, he came to notice, and his stamina was a little above average at best. He figured it meant that he really should start playing again, not just teaching this ragtag band of sports-idiots what it meant to throw a proper toss. Chances were, they wouldn't understand at all, or worse: they understood the theory of it, but were unable to execute it. Some of the first-years looked like they never held a ball in their hands before. Suga sighed. That would be quite a piece of work, wouldn't it? He wondered about that while he sauntered over to Sawamura-San, who had called the team over to announce todays plans.  
"So, the first-years will train setting with Sugawara-Kun first. I trust you lot to behave yourselves. The others will do spiking and receives. We'll change groups later, and if there's still time after that, we're playing a match!"  
Suga was surprised at how readily everyone accepted that and followed Sawamura-Sans orders, but maybe he shouldn't have been. The man always seemed to emit an aura of confidence, reliability and authority, so it was only natural for the others to follow him. He was a born leader, Suga decided, unlike himself. He was far too nice and polite for such a job -which of course were good points, but those could only get you so far.  
The practice with the first-years was just as he had expected it to be. They made mostly beginners mistakes, but most of them were eager to learn and improve, so it wasn't that hard to teach them. However, he couldn't help but notice that one or two of them probably would have done better in any other sport. He didn't voice his thoughts out to them, though. Maybe it was better to wait and see how -or if- they improved over time. And even then it wasn't his place to tell them to quit the club, since he was neither a regular member, nor their captain, for that matter. At least all of them were nice enough to involve him in their friendly chatter, so he didn't even notice the time pass by and was completely taken by surprise when Sawamura-San made them switch groups.  
It was fine though, since that meant that he now had the opportunity to talk to people he actually knew. Well, more or less, that is. The second-years worked far more concentrated than the first-years had and were able to work out most of his tips with far more ease.  
He thought that maybe he could avoid Sawamura-San by busying himself with the others, but after a reprimanding look from Kuroo and his mouthed '_benefit of the doubt'_ Suga sighed and gave in. For a moment, he watched Sawamura-Sans broad back while the man tossed a ball straight up over his head.  
"Sawamura-San. You lean too far back while you set. This way, you loose your balance way too easy and you have less control over the ball. Try to keep your back straight. If the ball goes over your head, take a step back instead of leaning back. You don't want to topple over, do you?", he finally addressed the captain, when he had seen enough.  
It wasn't like his tosses were particularly bad -in fact, they were above average- but there definitely was room to improve for him, Suga thought.  
"Thanks for the advice, Sugawara-Kun. I'll try to remember that.", came the mumbled reply, before the man changed his posture to the one Suga had suggested.  
The blond watched him for another moment, and content, when he saw that it seemed to work out, he went to help that tall guy who seemed to become nervous, whenever he came near him. Suga wondered why that was. He wasn't intimidating the other, was he? That could have been the case, if their physiques had been switched and Suga was the tall and strong one, not the smaller, lankier one with barely a fight to put up. It was ridiculous, how someone so tall and strong could be afraid of someone like him, Suga thought. He honestly had no clue to what he could have done to intimidate this guy so much, but he tried to get that giant bundle of nerves to calm down and relax, anyway. Thankfully, it worked soon enough, so he was able to give him a few tips before he went to check back on the captain.  
The moment his eyes fell on him, however, a frown made its way to Sugas features. With three quick strides he was standing behind the man and had jabbed him in his rips before he could even think about what he was doing himself.  
"Ouch, hey!", Sawamura-San yelped and spun around, obviously ready to give Suga a slating.  
But it never came. Instead, Suga was faced with a pair of big, dark brown eyes that clearly spoke of confusion and bewilderment and the blond couldn't help the words that were tumbling down his lips a second later.  
"You were falling back to old habits there, captain. Better get rid of them fast.", he suggested and was barely able to hold back his mischievous smile before he turned around to seek out his best friend, who was slacking off again.  
"Suga! You know I totally saw that, right?", the cat practically leered at him and the blond scoffed.  
"So? What about it?"  
He hadn't done anything wrong, had he?  
"What about it? _What about it?!_ Suga, you were practically flirting with him!", Kuroo gasped, and the blond was just happy they were out of earshot from Sawamura-San.  
"Was not!", he frowned.  
"Are you sure? Because it sure as hell looked like it.", the black haired male wriggled his eyebrows at at him.  
"_Yes, I am_ sure about that. Now start tossing so I can properly criticize you, damn cat.", Suga almost growled at his best friend and passed the ball he was holding towards him.  
It may have contained a little more force than he had intended though, since Kuroo frowned at him when he caught it.  
"Okay, okay, Suga.", he complied, but his eyes were still saying _'You totally did flirt with him just now!'  
_The blond huffed and crossed his arms over his chest while he watched Kuroo perform some tosses. Eventually, he gave him a few tips to correct his stance, but it didn't help much.  
"Gosh, Kuroo. You didn't lie when you said you're still horrible at tossing! Just what did you do while I wasn't around to keep you in check? Slack off all the time?", Suga chuckled when they were back in the locker room, changing out of their sweaty sports-attire.  
"Uhm, pretty much that, I guess?", Kuroo grinned and the blond looked at him with mock horror.  
"Kuroo! How could you?!"  
"The question is: How could I not?", his friend chuckled along, "I had to take the opportunity given to me! Without you around it sure was an easy ride for me. But I guess that's over now, isn't it, mum?"  
Suga grinned fondly at his best friend.  
"You're flattering me, cat. Though I stopped being your mum a long time ago, didn't I?"  
"Well, that's true, unfortunately. But you could become my -everyone's- mum again, if you'd join the team. I'm sure everyone would like to have you aboard."  
At that, Sugas mood sunk a little -and Kuroo noticed- but he didn't oppose to the suggestion right away, either.  
"What's all that talk of Sugawara-Kun being a mother about?", Sawamura-San joined their conversation and Suga looked at him, a little startled.  
He had completely forgotten that the rest of the team was still around and most likely listening in on their conversation if they weren't having one on their own.  
"Back at our High School Suga's been dubbed as our teams mum, because he always cared for everyone and always gave the best advice. He was also the only one able to keep the more ...eager... players in check, kept them from getting too worked up.", Kuroo explained to his captain.  
"Ah, I see.", was all the guy had to say to that, but he nodded and eyed the blond curiously, anyway.  
"I guess that's true. I had almost the same feeling about you when I watched you with the first-years and Asai, I have to admit.", he continued, his cheeks flushing slightly.  
The blond frowned. He hadn't even noticed he had been watched by Sawamura-San. But he guessed he should have known. Blame it on his concentration on the matters at hand at that time or the simple fact that he had merely enjoyed himself way too much while training with the team.  
"Asahi?", he cocked his head to the side, wondering who could be meant by that name.  
"Azumane Asahi. Our ace. He's the shy, nervous one. Our giant with the glass heart.", Kuroo chimed in and Suga smiled when he made the connections in his mind.  
"Oh, okay. It wasn't anything special, though?"  
"Yes, it was. Don't belittle yourself like that, Sugar-Chan."  
"Kuroo.", Suga just reprimanded him not to use that nickname in public.  
He didn't want the others to pick it up and start calling him by that name, too.  
"What? Stop looking at me like that."  
"You know what I mean!", he pointed out and pulled his beanie over his head to hide his sweaty, damp hair under it. He would take a shower at home.  
"Fine, fine. You ready? Then let's get going! See you, captain!", Kuroo waved goodbye to his team and then left the locker room, his best friend in tow.  
"See you!", Suga had merely addressed the whole team with a wave over his shoulder, but the room echoed with "See you"-s and "Good bye"-s anyway.  
"They like you, you know?", Kuroo wanted to know, once they were out in the cold and on their way.  
Suga just hummed in agreement, feeling a sudden tiredness wash over him and seep deep into his bones. He knew though that he wouldn't get to sleep any time soon, since he still had Take-Chans essay waiting for him, after all.

From: Cheshire Cat, 19:44  
Subject: Akaashis party  
Text: Hey, Sugar-Chan! I'm coming over around nine so we can have a little drink before we head out to Akaashis' later!

To: Cheshire Cat, 19:48  
Subject: Akaashis party  
Text: That's fine with me. How's Kenma holding up? Is he still confined to his bed?

From: Cheshire Cat, 19:51  
Subject: Akaashis party  
Text: Yup. Though he's playing his games already again. I guess he has to do something to keep himself occupied. He was happy enough when I told him you'd come with me to the party, though.

To: Cheshire Cat, 19:54  
Subject: Akaashis party  
Text: That's just how he is, isn't he? Hey, tell him I said to get better soon, okay? He has to come over the next time, too.

From: Cheshire Cat, 19:59  
Subject: Akaashis party  
Text: True! He said he'll think about it. But I'm gonna make sure he will!

To: Cheshire Cat, 20:00  
Subject: Akaashis party  
Text: Great! See you later, then!

Saturday night came sooner than Suga had expected it would. He wasn't exactly looking forward to spend the night out when he _should_ be working on his essay, but Kuroo had asked and he had agreed. He wouldn't back out of it now. But, he could use the break, he supposed, since he had worked on that essay all day and for the larger part of last night. The only good thing point about that fact was that he now was two thirds finished. He would manage to write an acceptable resume tomorrow, if he didn't drink too much tonight. -Not that he planned on totally wasting himself, anyway.  
Well, not unless Kuroo managed to sneak something into his soda again. It had happened before and Suga hadn't talked to him for weeks after that. His best friend hadn't learnt from that experience, though. There were several other attempts to screw with his drinks, even after that, but since Suga was cautious now because of that one time, he let someone else have his drinks, whenever Kuroo brought him some at a party. This actually saved him from some of the worst hangovers his friend had had, and instead of spending the day nursing his own headache, he was trending to his best friend most times on those occasions.  
The blond sighed when he thought about that and looked over the document he had worked on all day. Satisfied with his work, he saved it and closed the document. Just in case, he copied the file to his USB, too, to have a back up of it. You could never know what could happen to your laptop, especially when you had three cats around. And Loki in particular was prone to screwing with his stuff. The little devil lived for the sake of destroying his stuff, Suga suspected. There had been several attempts of murder to his phone by shoving it down from desks and shelves, more than a few broken cups and plates, and the feline had even managed to shuffle a plant down from its place on the window sill. Suga didn't know what he'd done to the cat to deserve such a treatment, honestly. He just tried to cope with it and not let his stuff lie around in places that were easy to reach for the white fur ball. Sometimes that didn't stop Loki, though. The cat seemed to be on its personal warpath with Suga. The blond was just happy that all thee of his cats were currently curled up and sleeping next to him on his couch, so he didn't need to bother for them right now and instead chose to clean up the place.  
He got up and stretched, making his backbones crack, which was a clear indication for him that he had spent way too much time sitting hunched over the screen of his laptop. He closed the lid and shoved it to the middle of the coffee-table, before he started to pick up several pieces of empty wrapping-paper (he needed his daily dose of chocolate when he worked on essays -for his nerves) and threw them into the trash. Then he carried his used mugs and the plate he had used for his late lunch into the kitchen and placed them in the sink. He would move them to the dishwasher later. For now, he should go and take a shower, since he had spent his whole day in his pyjamas, knowing that he wouldn't be going out until later tonight anyway.  
The doorbell rang just when he had finished his shower and was rifling through his drawer for a pair of socks and a fresh boxer to put on. With a glance at his alarm clock he checked the time -20:47- and adjusted the towel around his waist before he went to open the door for his friend.  
"You're early, Kuroo.", Suga frowned and stepped to the side to let him inside.  
"You think so? I think I'm right on time.", the black haired one smirked and closed the door behind him.  
"Yes, I do. Now, go make yourself comfortable while I put some clothes on. Oh, but try not to mess with the cats. They're sleeping on the couch.", the blond explained and then went to retreat into his bedroom.  
"Okay, will do.", Kuroo agreed and wandered off into the kitchen.  
Suga could hear him searching through his cupboards for some glasses while he pulled a pair of comfortable, wide jeans over his legs and a plain white T-shirt over his head.  
"You're not seriously going to wear that, are you?", Kuroo wanted to know, once Suga walked into the kitchen, one eyebrow raised in question.  
"Hm? Why not? It's comfortable."  
"Because those jeans look like they are at least one size too big for you, Sugar-Chan. You honestly don't know how to dress yourself for a party, right? Come on, I'll pick something for you.", he ordered and pulled the blond back to his bedroom.  
Suga didn't even say anything anymore when his friend started to search through his drawers for a more fitting outfit. He was used to that treatment by now, after all, this scene had repeated itself for more than just a few times over the course of the years they knew each other.  
"Hey, where are those jeans you wore on Wednesday?", his best friend wanted to know and Suga frowned.  
"I'm not going to wear those again, Kuroo."  
"Eh?! Of course you are! Come on! They looked good on you!"  
"No. Why would I?"  
He could do without the insinuating looks and remarks thrown his way, thank you very much. Wearing those jeans practically was an invitation to get jumped, and he didn't want that to happen.  
"Because _I say so_. Now strip and put those jeans on already. Oh, and you might want to change your shirt, too."

* * *

Notes:

*flails*  
here, have a slightly longer chapter today as apology for taking so long to update. ê_e  
Kuroo sure is a bully, isn't he? And idiot suga just lets him! I don't know why I made those two best friends, honestly xD  
Anyway, the reason this one took me so long was because i felt the urge to draw a few scenes of Suga from the previous chapters. They're not finished yet, and I'm not even sure I'm going to post them anywere, but if some of you are interested in seeing them anyway, I might reconsider and post them on my tumblr then. ^^"  
I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I did! x3


	6. Chapter 6

Later in the locker room Daichi couldn't help but notice how at ease Sugawara-Kun seemed around the team, how relaxed he was while he chatted and bickered with Kuroo. He seemed to really enjoy himself, so Daichi deemed it safe enough to join in on their conversation.  
"What's all that talk of Sugawara-Kun being a mother about?", he wanted to know, genuinely interested in what may have caused the blond to be called that and why he accepted it so willingly.  
It wasn't the man himself to give him the answer though, but Kuroo.  
"Back at our High School Suga's been dubbed as our teams mum, because he always cared for everyone and always gave the best advice. He was also the only one able to keep the more ...eager... players in check, kept them from getting too worked up.", he explained to Daichi, and the captain nodded in understanding.  
"Ah, I see.", for a moment, he contemplated whether to say what he had observed during practice or keep it to himself for now.  
_Ugh, screw it!_ he thought and just went with what came to his mind.  
"I guess that's true. I had almost the same feeling about you when I watched you with the first-years and Asahi, I have to admit.", he continued and tried to fight the blush that crept up his face when he admitted that he had watched Sugawara-Kun.  
Said guy didn't seem to be too happy to hear that he had been watched, but he didn't say anything and Daichi figured that if he asked, he would simply say that it was a given for him to watch out for his team and their behaviour, since he was their captain. All their bad behaviour would fall back to him, seeing as they didn't have a coach and their club's advisor only came by every other month to check on them. So he guessed there wouldn't be a way for him to get out of taking the responsibility for the team. Not that he cared, though. He was used to the roll of captaining a team (he had captained his High Schools team, too) and knew what he had to look out for. However, instead of being ignored by the blond, a question was directed at him. Sadly, he wasn't quick enough to answer. In his stead, Kuroo did and Daichi was left out of the conversation from that point on. He didn't mind it too much and focused on changing out of his smelly clothes instead. He kept listening to them with half an ear though, and when they left, he chimed in on the chorus of "See you"-s and "Good bye"-s from his team-mates.  
Soon after, the room cleared out completely and he was the last one left. Since it was a Friday night and well past nine o'clock, he had to lock up the gym today. It was an arrangement he had made with the janitor as soon as he became captain, since he felt the team could not only use the practice, but would also appreciate it to be able to power themselves out to their hearts content without having to worry for the time once. And sometimes after practice ended Daichi used the empty gym to train on his own for a little longer. He was by no means possessed with volleyball, but he liked the workout and it was some kind of stress relieve for him. Slamming a volleyball against a wall again and again until the movements were engraved to his mind and body and he could probably do them in his sleep left him switched to automatic-mode. All his thinking and worrying stopped for the time he solely concentrated on keeping the ball in motion.  
Today however, he didn't feel like it and instead locked up and left for home. Asahi had said he'd be coming home later, since he wanted to head to that 7/11 bookstore a few blocks down the street first. Apparently he ran out of books again. Daichi sighed and slipped his headphones on when he arrived at the train station, wondering how Asahi was able to pay for all those books he stored in their shared flat and what he could possibly want with all of them. It was a mystery for him, but he guessed it was somehow connected to the fact that the glass-hearted man studied classic literature and japanese language. Well, at least it meant Asahi was easy to please and it was never hard to get him a present for his birthday. Give him a book, and he was the happiest man on earth. Daichi chuckled at that thought, what caused several other people that sat near him to look at him either curious or disturbed. He didn't care though, and instead turned up the volume of his music.  
Currently, Nightwishs' _'She is my Sin'_ was playing, and Daichi silently hummed along to it, thinking that the song fit perfectly to his current situation. He was more than just a little smitten with the blond man, and he knew it. It was no use lying to himself about that, when it was so obvious. One could probably tell that from a mile away, and he was just lucky Sugawara-Kun hadn't caught on to that yet. He wasn't saying that Suga was an idiot for not seeing it -in fact, he was happy about it. It meant he could keep ogling him from afar for a little longer and eventually get to know him a little. That is, _if_ the setter would be spending more time with him without ignoring him. Though today might have been a good start on that, right? After all, Sugawara-Kun had talked and given tips to Daichi out of his own accord, hadn't he? That must mean something, he decided.  
His Saturday was spend mostly with coursework and rehearsing the current topics, after he had returned from his morning run. Daichi didn't even notice when his phone vibrated several times during the day, informing him of incoming messages. It's not that he didn't care for them, he was just too concentrated. And when he finally snapped out of his concentration-mode, as Asahi and Bokuto both had dubbed it, it was quite late already. Well, he wouldn't be late for the party, that was still a few hours off, but he remembered that he had promised to give a call to his parents today. And they didn't appreciate it when he disturbed them during their dinner. So he quickly grabbed his phone, ignored the message-alerts and called them.  
He might be nearing the end of his second year in college, but his parents still cared and fretted over him and had made him promise to call at least twice a month, since visiting them was not an option. They lived a five-hour train ride away from his college, so trips back home always had to be carefully planned with his college schedule in mind (also, despite his good physique he always was exhausted after making the trip, so he travelled as little as possible, to be honest). And while he waited for either his mum or dad to answer the phone, Daichi sauntered out of his room into the kitchen, in search for something to eat.  
He found it in the form of leftovers from this mornings breakfast and hummed happily, when he put it into the microwave. The second he closed its door, his father picked up, and while he waited for his food to heat up, Daichi talked to the man about what happened within the last two weeks and what he was planning for the next. His father listened patiently, only adding agreeable remarks here and there, unlike his mother, who'd have showered him in countless questions by now. In that aspect, it was easier to talk to his dad. He didn't ask many questions and never pressed matters unless he felt it was important. Daichi ended the call with his usual "Call you in two weeks!", and his father wished him to have fun at tonights party, when the microwave pinged to inform him that his food was ready.  
While he was eating, Asahi poked his head out of his room.  
"Ah, you're out of it. Bokuto-San told me to tell you that he already left to go and help Akaashi set up the place."  
Daichi nodded. He had been expecting something like that, actually.  
"That's fine. We'll find the way without him."  
"W-we?", came the weak reply to that, and he could already see Asahi retreating back into the safety that was his room.  
"Yes, _we_. You're coming, too. I promised to your mother I would pull you out of your nutshell of a room once a month, and I plan to keep that promise.", Daichi answered in his most strict voice.  
"Think positive; if you go today, I wont make you come along to the Halloween event.", he bribed, knowing that Asahi would try to stay as far away from that party as possible, if he could.  
And it seemed to work.  
"O-okay. I'll go today.", the glass-hearted giant eventually gave in and came out of his room to sit with Daichi while he ate.  
"Good. That way, I can keep two promises.", Daichi chuckled.  
"Two?"  
"Yep, two.", he confirmed, remembering that he had promised Noya to bring Asahi along tonight.  
The man would probably freak out when he saw Noya -for some unknown reason, Asahi was afraid of him- but Daichi didn't care. He was of the opinion that his childhood friend needed to be pulled out of his comfort zone more often -and Nishinoya was just the right man for that, considered his endless energy and upbeat personality.  
A look of dread settled on Asahis face, however, when he heard Daichi affirm his question, and one could see how his mind began to overwork itself and made useless analysations, which resulted in Daichi outright laughing at him.  
"Don't bother thinking about it. It wont harm you. -I hope.", he grinned wickedly at his friend, not able to withstand the temptation of teasing him a little.  
"Y-you hope?"  
"Yeah. Now go get ready, you giant baby. We're leaving soon."  
"Huh? Didn't Bokuto-San say it wouldn't start before ten? It's only half past seven now."  
"Yes, he did say that. You do remember that Akaashi lives on the other side of town, though? We'll need about an hour to just get there."  
They arrived a little before ten, though.  
"Hey, hey, hey! You're here! Great! Come in, come in!", they were greeted by an extremely cheerful Bokuto-San and followed him into Akaashis flat.  
It wasn't exactly big, but it was nice enough. Clean and comparably wider than their own. Daichi could understand why Bokuto spent most of his time at his boyfriends' place.  
"Hello Sawamura-Kun, Azumane-San.", Akaashi smiled at them when they walked by the kitchen, where he stood at the fridge.  
"Hey Akaashi. Thanks for inviting us over today.", Daichi thanked him and then pulled a still slightly pouting Asahi along into the living room.  
They weren't the first ones to arrive and were given a warm welcome by the few people who already occupied Akaashis couch. He allowed them to pull him right into their middle, while Asahi escaped their grasp and settled for a spot at the corner of the group. Daichi let it slide, knowing that it wouldn't be much longer until Noya arrived. And then the shy giant would be tackled to the floor mercilessly. He was honestly looking forward to that, even though he had seen that spectacle a few times already. In the next minutes, the doorbell rang several times and slowly but surely the room filled with more and more people. Having a proper conversation wasn't possible at this point, since they'd be disturbed by a new round of "Hello"-s every other minute. Daichi was just talking to Bokuto, when it happened.  
"Asahi-Saaaaan!"  
A shout echoed through the room, then there was a surprised yelp and a loud 'thud', followed by a groan and Asahi fumbling for words.  
"N-Noya-San? W-what are you doing here?"  
The fact that he didn't even try to peel the smaller man from his form spoke of reluctant acceptance of that behaviour. Asahi knew that Nishinoya wouldn't let go of him unless he wanted to. And said one didn't care that all of the gathered people could see them, unlike Asahi.  
"I was invited, _duh_.", Noya dead-panned and Daichi and a few of the others chuckled at that.  
They were all used to that show by now. And they were all rooting for the tiny energy-ball to finally get the man. Heck, Noya had been pinning for Asahi for longer than Daichi had his crush on Suga (and that actually lasted for more than half a year by now).  
"Oh. O-okay."  
Daichi watched Asahi smile shyly before he tried to pick himself up from where he had crashed on the ground -courtesy of Noyas attack. It didn't work though, since the man still clung to him.  
"Yeah. Besides, I wanted to see you! You never come by the coffee-shop anymore, recently.", he pouted, ignoring Asahis vain attempt to get up and instead even snuggled up to him.  
At that point Daichi lost interest in their conversation and instead concentrated on the others around him. Most of them were people he knew, some better, some not so well, but he didn't care.  
"Didn't you say Kuroo was coming, too?", he wanted to know from Bokuto, when he couldn't spot the notorious bedhead anywhere.  
"Huh? Oh, yeah. He is. Texted me earlier that he'll be a little late. Apparently, his boyfriend caught a cold, so he's bringing someone else. I'm so curious! Aren't you? I wonder whom he's going to show up with!"  
"Is that so? And I thought I'd finally get to see the guy that managed to Kuroo to settle down!", Daichi laughed and Bokuto joined in.  
"Oh, you wouldn't believe it when you see him, though! When I first met Kenma-Kun, I thought Kuroo couldn't possibly be serious!"  
Bokuto frowned when he remembered that particular episode.  
"Well, he wasn't so I guess it's fine. Kenma-Kun is a nice guy. I'm not sure you'd like him, though."  
"Why is that?"  
"He's quiet, Daichi, _really_ quiet. It's unsettling, honestly. I don't know how Kuroo fell for him, but he did!", Bokuto shook his head and got up from his spot on next to Daichi.  
"Want a beer? I'll bring you some!", he offered and Daichi found himself nodding in agreement.  
Once in a while it would be fine to drink something. And as long as he didn't drink too much... It should be fine, really.  
About half an hour later, the doorbell rang again and Akaashi went to open it, letting the last guests inside. Daichi knew Kuroo would be one of them, but he had to do a double take when he spotted a familiar silverish-blond head behind him. Sugawara-Kun. Daichi blinked in surprise. He didn't know Suga was friends with Bokuto and Akaashi. Though, probably just with Akaashi, since the moment the three of them entered the room, Bokuto leant over to Daichi, obviously wanting to ask a question.  
"Hey, hey, hey, who is that gorgeous guy behind Kuroo? Do you know him? I didn't know Akaashi had such a good-looking friend!"  
"Uh... yeah. Kind of. That's Sugawaara Koushi, Kuroos best friend.", Daichi informed him, not able to take his eyes off of Suga.  
The blond wore a tight fitting pair of grey jeans (probably the same ones as the one he wore a few days earlier), a marine blue t-sirt and a not buttoned up cardigan.  
"So this is him?! This is the guy you-"  
At that point, Daichi thought it best to stop Bokuto from saying anything more by hurriedly pressing both his hands over the others' mouth.  
"Sshht! Don't say that! Do you want to ruin me, Bokuto?!", he hissed in the blonds ear and only released him after he received a short nod from his flatmate.  
"Okay, okay. I wont say it! Calm down!", Bokuto assured him and only now Daichi had time to fight the blush that had started to heat his face.  
Once he was sure it was -mostly- gone, he accepted the words with a nod of his own.  
"I can see why you're head over heels for him, though. He's beautiful.", Bokuto mumbled now quietly into his ear, only for him to hear.  
Daichi nodded yet again, noticing the awe that swung within his friends words. If he didn't know any better, he'd say Bokuto was temporarily smitten with Suga, too.  
"Yeah...", he gulped and wrung his hands. But it weren't just Suga'S looks, that had him trapped; his personality, the aura surrounding him, the way he interacted with everyone around him -so basically _everything_ the guy fascinated him. And there was nothing he could do about it. The people on the couch shuffled to make room for the latecomers and Kuroo plopped himself down between Daichi and Bokuto, what left Sugawara-Kun to the spot on the left of Daichi, on the armrest of the couch.  
"Hey!", he managed to greet both of them with a smile that thankfully didn't come across as nervous as he actually felt.  
His crush just send him a court nod, while Kuroo tried to engage him in a conversation.  
"Hello captain! I didn't know you'd be here, too!"  
Daichi laughed, taking a sip from his beer.  
"Oh come on, Kuroo. Bokuto is my flatmate. Of course I'm here! It would be a shame if I weren't!", he chuckled, shaking his head.  
"Ah, right. I tend to forget that.", Kuroo drawled and he nodded.  
"Here, your beers.", they were interrupted by Akaashi, who held out two cans of beer to Kuroo and Sugawara.  
Both of them took the offered drinks with a grateful smile and then Kuroo immersed himself in a discussion with Bokuto, while Sugawara-Kun got up from his spot and followed Akaashi back to the kitchen, his beer in hand. That left Daichi temporarily alone, but he didn't care too much about that. He downed his beer, watching the other people interact with each other.  
Noya was still clinging to Asahi, though by now they were no longer situated on the floor and Asahi seemed to be more relaxed, a can of beer in his hand. The smaller man was talking to him about something that apparently happened at the coffee-shop earlier today and the other listened to his chatter, while Kuroo and Bokuto were talking about volleyball strategies and games they had recently re-watched on the internet. Daichi listened to them for a while, before someone decided to turn on Akaashis sound system and play some obnoxiously loud (and lousy) pop-songs he didn't particularly like.  
So he took his emptied can and went over to the kitchen, where he hound Sugawara-Kun, Akaashi and some girl he didn't know sitting at the table, quietly discussing something. He sent them a smile when they noticed him and spoke up only when they came to a stop in their discussion.  
"I'm just here to get another beer. Don't mind me, go on.", he shrugged and went over to the fridge to get himself a new beer.  
He had figured that two or three cans of the beverage wouldn't harm him. Akaashi nodded to his words and then the girl started talking in a quiet but nice, calming voice.  
"Suga. Are you sure? Absolutely a hundred percent sure that what you just said is true?"  
Daichi couldn't help but perk up at and listen to what they were saying. Of course eavesdropping was a rude thing to do, but he could just take his beer and walk out into the hallway, couldn't he?  
"Pretty much, yes. Shimizu-Chan, you know him, too. This is exactly how he would go about something like that! I can't believe the nerve of that guy!", Suga answered the girls question, just as Daichi closed the fridge, a new can of beer in hand.  
"I'm with Suga on that one, Shimizu-San. I may not know him as well as you two do, but I'm fairly sure he would act like that.", Akaashi fell in.  
"He's a scheming devil, _that damn cat!_", Suga grumbled when Daichi left the kitchen.  
If he had been wondering before whom the three of them were talking about; now he knew it. They were talking about Kuroo. He had heard Sugawara-Kun call his best friend 'cat' before, but now he was fairly certain that this nickname was a pretty much established reference for the guy and not only used by a few people but practically everyone who knew him. He wondered if he should keep listening.  
"Oh come on, Suga. You knew that from the beginning.", the girl chuckled, "And it's not like you're any better, sitting here and scheming with us!"  
"Hey!"  
Daichi could practically see Suga frown to that, even though he wasn't in the kitchen anymore. He smiled to himself and went back to the living room. Of course he was still curious as to what exactly this conversation was all about, but he felt that he had heard enough. For now, anyway.  
The night went on pretty relaxed for him, though Kuroo started to nag him at some point -he was obviously drunk by then- and Daichi had a hard time to peel him off of him, but he somehow managed. After that, the number of drunk drunk people increased steadily and Daichi saw Sugawara-Kun escape to the balcony. He wasn't sure why the blond went there -it was cold outside and he couldn't remember Kuroo saying that Suga was a smoker- but he forgot about that soon enough, when Noya suddenly popped down next to him.  
"Daichi! I've seen him! The guy you've got a crush on!", the barista cheered, which made Daichi frown in return.  
"It's the guy Kuroo showed up with, isn't it? You said they were friends! And he is blond and tall and lean! It has to be him!", Noya blabbered on, obviously influenced by he alcohol he drank.  
Daichi opted to better not say anything.  
"You don't need to say anything! I git Asahi to tell me! I know everything!", he chirped and Daichi bit his tongue.  
Now, that was just great, wasn't it?  
"But don't worry! I wont tell anyone! Oh, and I think you two would look really good together! I'm rooting for you!"  
He sighed, hoping that Nishinoya meant what he said and would actually be able to remember it by tomorrow. Daichi didn't even try to fight his blush this time, too.  
"Noya, I _dare_ you! If you let _anything_ about this matter _at all_ slip to Tanaka or anyone else, I swear, I'm personally going to murder you!", Daichi grumbled -just for good measure- and got up from his spot on the couch.  
He needed another beer.  
"No worries, cap! I wont tell anyone, I promise!", Noya called after him, while he was on his way to the kitchen already.  
With his new beer in hand, he decided to get a breath of fresh air -knowing full well that he would meet Suga on the balcony. Well, probably, if the guy hadn't come back inside by now. But Daichi couldn't spot his blond hair in the living room between the other guests, so he must still be outside.  
He opened the door and stepped outside, a gust of cold October air welcoming him. Taking a deep breath to clear his head, Daichi pulled the door close behind him.  
"I hope you don't mind if I join you for a while?", he asked the blond, who had been leaning on the balustrade with his elbows, looking at the night sky and only turned around when Daichi spoke up.  
He couldn't miss the sceptic frown that settled on Sugawaras face for a second or two, before he eased it out of his features and nodded.  
"Why not?", he huffed, "Here's room enough for both of us."  
Daichi nodded.  
"Thanks."  
"Hmhm.", Suga hummed and went to face forward again, no longer paying attention to Daichi.  
He mirrored Sugas stance, looking out into the night and taking an occasional sip from his beer. It was fine like this, really. He didn't need to talk to the blond, it was enough for him to just be here, in such close proximity to his crush. Without an awkward atmosphere between them. Daichi wondered when that had happened or if it was just the beer and everything would be back to normal by Monday.  
"Aren't you cold?", he eventually wondered, more to himself than actually asking a question.  
But Sugawara-Kun answered nonetheless, after he contemplated for an answer for a few moments.  
"Actually, yes. A little. But it's fine. I like it."  
The blond smiled, actually, honestly _smiled_ at him. And it took Daichis breath away. Of course he had seen that smile before, but having it directed at himself made it an entirely different experience. He fought the blush that threatened to make its way to his face and tried a shy smile of his own.  
"Oh, okay."  
Okay? _Okay?!_ He couldn't have thought of any better answer, could he? Inwardly scolding himself for yet another idiocy he came up with while around the blond, Daichi bit his lower lip in distress. _How the hell was he going to get to know Suga, if he kept blundering around so much?!_ Surely he'd never get a chance with him, if he kept this up!  
"Yup. How about you, though? A t-shirt? _You_ should be the one to feel cold!"  
Suga kept their conversation going, much to Daichis surprise.  
"Huh?", he blinked, slightly confused and not sure if he had heard that right.  
"I said you should be the one feeling cold, not me.", the blond repeated.  
"Oh? No, I'm not. I'm always warm.", he shrugged.  
"Ah, so you're one of those abnormal people who always have warm hands, no matter how cold it gets?"  
"Guess so.", he took a sip from his beer, thinking that it felt pretty normal to talk to Suga now.  
More relaxed, at ease, now that he was over the first few awkward moments.  
"I take it you're one of those guys who always have cold hands, then?", he asked in an almost jokingly manner.  
He didn't even expect to get an answer to that, not really, so he was taken by surprise when he heard Sugawara-Kun laugh quietly.  
"No, not really. But it happens, sometimes.", the blond shrugged, a smile still tugging at his lips and Daichi found himself returning the smile.  
After that, they settle back into a comfortable silence, the music of the party inside a mere background noise, dimmed by the closed balcony door.

* * *

Notes:

Phew. This one's the longest chapter so far. 4,5k words (if the wordcount is correct), can you believe that?  
(I didn't re-read and check this one for any mistakes yet, though. If you find any, please let me know!)  
I have more planned for that party, but I'm not sure I will use everything... after all, there's still the Halloween event coming up for them~  
Anyways, I hope you had fun reading the chapter! Please let me know what you think!


	7. Chapter 7

After Kuroo had talked him into wearing that particular pair of jeans and a dark blue T-shirt to go with it, they had settled down at Sugas kitchen table. Well, Kuroo sat. Suga was up and about, putting his used dishes from earlier into the dishwasher and cleaning the sink from leftover breadcrumbs.  
"So, have you decided if you're coming to practice again?", Kuroo wanted to know, taking a sip from the drink Suga had provided him with earlier.  
"I'm not sure. It was fun and everyone was really nice and all... but-"  
Suga sighed. He wasn't sure ho to voice how he felt about the whole ordeal.  
"Buuut?", his friend urged him on.  
"I don't know, Kuroo. I'm not sure."  
"Try it! Just say what you think. I won't rip your head off, you know that."  
The blond sighed again, leaning against the kitchens counter.  
"I still feel on edge, I think. I didn't show it yesterday, because I didn't want to worry you and the others. But it's still there. The fear, I mean."  
Kuroo nodded.  
"I wouldn't have expected it to vanish right away, either. Things like that need time. You can't just walk onto the court again as if nothing happened to you. That incident _happened_ to you, Suga. You shouldn't try to deny that. Accept it. Accept that this happened to you and that it's a part of you. Our experiences are what makes us who we are, whether we deny them or not. And accepting them means to accept yourself. And you should do that. Having something like that happen to you doesn't make you any less of a person, and if you're afraid, then accept that fear. Don't let it conquer you, but accept it and work with it. It will get better with time. I'm not saying it will go away or that it'll be like before, because it won't be, but it _will_ get better. You just have to hang on for now."  
Suga was silent for a long while after that, obviously thinking about what Kuroo just said. He was right, of course, Suga knew that. He knew he would have to face his fear every time he went to the gym to practice volleyball for the rest of his time at this university -if he joined the team or kept teaching the first-years, that is- and he knew it _should_ get better over time, but right now it was just so hard to accept that.  
"I'll try, then.", Suga eventually agreed to go to the next practice.  
"One step at a time, right?", he smiled at his best friend, who outright beamed at him.  
"Great! That's what I wanted to hear! Now come on, drink something! We need to get into the mood for a party, after all!"

They arrived half an hour later than planned, thanks to Loki escaping from the flat when they wanted to leave for the first time. It took roughly 20 minutes and a lot of coaxing and treats to finally catch him and bring him back inside and Suga swore the cat did that on purpose. After all, it wasn't the first time they had to catch the devious cat, when they wanted to leave for a night out.  
"Hey, Akaashi! Thanks for inviting us! I hope you don't mind I brought Suga instead of Kenma?", Kuroo greeted their host for the night.  
"No, not at all. It's fine. Bokuto-San already told me that you'll bring someone else since Kenma is sick. Come on in, you two. I'll bring you some beers, just get in there.", Akaashi smiled and gestured for them to move on to his living room.  
Suga followed half a step after Kuroo, taking in his surroundings. He hadn't been at Akaashis' before (there had never been a reason to come here before tonight), but he felt quite at ease. The flat seemed to be rather spacious and there were light colours on the walls and little furniture that could cramp up the place. He liked it. What he didn't like, was the person he spotted sitting on the far end of Akaashis' couch.  
Sawamura Daichi.  
Had Kuroo known the guy would be here and invited Suga because of that? Or was it merely a coincidence? Suga was about to ask his best friend about that, but Kuroo had already made his way over there and plopped himself down in between Sawamura-San and a guy he didn't know. Resigned, Suga opted for the last free spot -the place on the armrest next to Sawamura-San- and offered him a short nod in greeting to reply to the others' good natured "Hey!" He would need a beer or two -at least- to live through this night, he guessed. However, he had no chance to mull over that any longer, since at that moment Akaashi came over, two cans of beer in his outstretched hands. One was handed to Kuroo, the other the blond took himself. He exchanged a short look with Akaashi, who motioned for him to follow him and Suga decided that his night only could get better. Right? Right. Akaashi brought him to the kitchen, where he found Shimizu sitting at a small table.  
"Shimizu-Chan! What a nice surprise!", the blond smiled and bend down next to the girl to give her a peck on the cheek.  
"Hello Suga. I didn't know you'd be here! Oh, wait. Let me guess -Kuroo?", she chuckled, knowing of his reluctance to go to parties.  
Suga pouted, being remembered of his previous suspicions.  
"Yes. Kuroo", he huffed and took a seat at the table, before he took a sip from his beer.  
Akaashi sat down, too, and cocked his head to the side.  
"What about him?", he wanted to know, and Suga frowned.  
Should he tell them of his suspicions? He thought about it for a moment, before he decided to not say anything too revealing for now.  
"Ugh, well, I guess he's trying to set me up with someone and just wouldn't leave me alone."  
"Oh? Who is it? I'm sure Kuroo picked a good one for you, Suga. Why don't you go along with it? You know you can't stay a virgin forever!", the girl winked at him.  
The blond looked at the girl clearly horrified by her words.  
"Oh hell no, Shimizu! I'd rather get old and wrinkly all by myself than go along with one of Kuroos ideas of whom I should be dating!", he grumbled.  
"Suga, really? You know that won't happen. _We won't let it happen._", Shimizu pointed out an got a defeated sigh in return from her blond friend.  
"So? Who're we talking about, anyway?", Akaashi fell in, and the girl chimed in, too.  
"Yes, who is he wanting to set you up with? If that person really is so horrible, I _might_ consider helping you talk Kuroo out of it!"  
Suga furrowed his brows in thought. Should he really tell them? He had a feeling Shimizu wouldn't do what she said she would -under her cover of a nice, quiet girl, she was a devil, but since she rarely showed that side of her, no one would believe it- and Akaashi couldn't be of any help anyway, right?  
"None of your business. Let's just say Kuroo insists on me being in the company of that person. It started a few days ago, and even though I told him not to do it and even threatened him, he keeps doing it! That person's here too, by the way. Though I can't say for sure if Kuroo knew about that or if today's just a coincidence. I wanted to ask him about it, but I haven't had the chance yet."  
"Oh? You're such a spoilsport, Suga! Just say it! Who is it?", the girl in their round wanted to know.  
"At least tell us if it's a boy or a girl! We can narrow it down from there, right, Akaashi-Kun?"  
"I guess that would be a possibility. Suga?"  
The blond huffed, leaning both his forearms in the table and staring his friends down. Well, he _tried to_.  
"I hope you know that you're being pests right now, both of you!", he complained and gulped down half of his beer.  
When neither of them said anything to that and instead kept looking at him expectantly, he eventually gave in.  
"Fine! I'll tell you. But only under the condition that you_ absolutely under no circumstances whatsoever_ will involve yourselves in this matter _or_ try to help Kuroo _or _that person, you hear me?", he demanded.  
Akaashi nodded instantly, not having planned to do so anyway, whereas Shimizu contemplated her options for a moment. After what seemed like hours -though it hadn't been more than a minute- passed, she nodded.  
"Okay. I won't meddle unnecessarily.", she agreed and Suga wasn't sure if he was supposed to be happy about that or not. He couldn't exactly tell if this was a good thing or not. Well, it was too late to back out now, anyway.  
"Okay. Right... so, the person Kuroo is trying to set me up with is the captain of his volleyball club. Sawamura Daichi.", the blond grumbled, trying to speak as silently as possible.  
He didn't want that little information to leak out of their small round. Akaashi didn't look too surprised by that revelation and merely nodded, while Shimizu looked quite baffled.  
"Sawamura-San? But you can't stand that guy, right?", she remembered and Suga nodded.  
"Exactly."  
"But... Kuroo knows that! Why would he want to set you up with a guy you don't like?"  
"I have no idea, actually. He refused to tell me when I asked him about it.", Suga pouted, visibly unhappy about that fact.  
"Hm. Maybe he just thinks you two would make a good couple?", Akaashi offered, a sly smile on his lips.  
He wasn't exactly looking like it and one would barely expect him to do so, but the dark haired guy actually was pretty fond of teasing people, when he got the opportunity to do so. It was never anything severe, though. Akaashi never went over board with his teasing and always kept it playful, which was the only reason for Suga to smile in return. It turned out just a little sour.  
"Must be it. He even made me promise to give the guy the benefit of the doubt. I can't believe I agreed to that! And now here I am, victim to yet another of his schemes! Can you believe it! I don't know how I could have not seen this earlier! I bet, Kenma isn't even that sick!", Suga explained, but he stopped when the subject of their conversation suddenly entered the kitchen.  
Their discussion came to a rather sudden stop, but Sawamura-San showed no signs of actually having heard or registered anything that had been said before he came in.  
"I'm just here to get another beer. Don't mind me, go on.", he said with a shrug and went to the fridge, after Akaashi gave him an affirming nod.  
Suga eyed Sawamuras broad back warily, but Shimizu pulled his attention to her by asking him a question.  
"Suga. Are you sure? Absolutely a hundred percent sure that what you just said is true?", she wanted to know.  
The blond didn't even need to think of his answer to that.  
"Pretty much, yes. Shimizu-Chan, you know him, too. This is exactly how he would go about something like that! I can't believe the nerve of that guy!"  
"I'm with Suga on that one, Shimizu-San. I may not know him as well as you two do, but I'm fairly sure he would act like that.", Akaashi agreed, before Shimizu could even ask for his opinion.  
Suga was just happy that neither of them mentioned a name right now. He didn't want Sawamura-San to know that he was -in a way- talking about him.  
"He's a scheming devil, _that damn cat!_", he grumbled when the intruder finally left the kitchen, a new beer in his hand.  
"Oh come on, Suga. You knew that from the beginning.", the girl chuckled, "And it's not like you're any better, sitting here and scheming with us!", the girl chuckled and nudged him to his side with er elbow.  
"Hey!", the blond frowned, but he couldn't hide the smile tugging at his lips.  
"It's true, though! Now, you have to admit: Sawamura-San _does _look pretty darn hot. If I weren't with Hitoka-Chan, I wouldn't say no to him -if you know, what I mean, Sugar-Chan!", Shimizu playfully winked at him.  
"Shimizu!", Suga barely suppressed an exasperated groan and just shook his head.  
"She _does_ have a point, Sugawara-Kun. We both saw how you looked at his back just now. Don't try to hide it.", Akaashi smiled, clearly siding with Shimizu now.  
Suga frowned. How had he looked at Sawamuras back? He was sure he didn't look at it any differently than what he would when looking at anyone else's back. Shimizu laughed.  
"You didn't notice, did you?"  
Suga cocked his head to the side, wanting an answer.  
"Well, you looked like you were actually considering him.", Akaashi explained.  
"What?!"  
"Relax, Suga. He just stated the truth!", Shimizu tried to calm him down, though to no avail and Akaashi had to help her out.  
"Really, Suga. To think that there would be a day when you can't tell that I'm joking...", he chuckled and offered Suga another beer, since the blond had just finished the first one.  
"Akaashi, Shimizu! That was just mean! I can't believe it!", the blond fumed under his breath, glaring at both of his friends.  
"I hate you. Both of you. Never will I ever talk to you again after this!", he threatened, knowing that he didn't really mean it, but wanting to say it anyway.  
"I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist. But, honestly Suga. Why don't you try to give Sawamura-Kun a chance? He really is a nice guy, and after the shit he's been though with his Ex he deserves someone better. Someone like you.", Akaashi told him, completely serious.  
Suga furrowed his brows in thought. He wasn't sure he wanted to know what this was all about and just shook his head, signalling to Akaashi that he should stop talking.  
"Anyway! Suga, are you still planning to help me out with Hitoka-Chans surprise?", Shimizu changed the subject, sensing that it would be better to distract her friend from his worries for a while.  
He was sure to get back to them at some point tonight, anyway, and she knew that.  
"Sure! Anything for Ya-Chan!", Suga smiled, immersing himself completely into the new subject.  
He stayed in the kitchen for the most part. People came and went, occasionally sitting with him at the table and talking to him. Kuroo came too, though he didn't stay for too long and always said he was just there to get another beer. Suga knew that he was going to knock himself out at this point and that he most likely would have to drag his best friend home, but he didn't care. He was used to that, one could say.  
At some point, it got too cramped in the kitchen. More and more people came in, milling around and lingering, bringing the noise of the party from the living room to his little save haven that was the kitchen.  
"Hey, Akaashi. I need some air. You don't have a balcony, by any chance?", he asked, hoping that he wouldn't have to trudge down all the way from the fourth floor.  
"I do. You can get there from the living room. But close the door when you're out. I don't want the flat to get cold."  
Suga nodded and made his way over, politely smiling at the people he passed.

It was cold on the balcony and he welcomed the shiver that went down his spine with a content sigh. The night was clear and he could see the stars up in the sky, which gave him the feeling of home, somehow. Back at his parents' he had spent nights like this outside, lying on the cold ground of their backyard, gazing at the stars and the sky. Here in the city doing that was nigh impossible. Usually there was too much light coming from street lights, cars, neon advertises and the like, blending out the night sky. So he appreciated the view he got to see from Akaashis balcony, knowing he wouldn't have the chance to see the sky like this anytime soon again.  
He leant on the balustrade, making himself comfortable an taking deep breaths of the crisp October air. Whenever he breathed out, little white clouds would appear in front of his face and he knew it was most likely a few degrees minus Celsius. He didn't care though, and let his thoughts wander. It wasn't long before the door of the balcony opened again and Suga heard someone else joining him in the cold night. He could hear the person take a deep breath, just like he had done when he stepped outside and there was a question.  
Having a vague feeling of who it was who joined him, he turned to look at the intruder of his little hideout. For a moment, he looked like he would like nothing more than to chase that guy back inside and to be left alone in this starry night, but he remembered Kuroos words, and even though he knew his best friend would probably never know of this little episode if he didn't tell him, he still felt obliged. Somehow. Ultimately, after mulling about his possibilities for a second or two, he gave in.  
"Why not? Here's room enough for both of us.", he agreed and turned back to looking at the sky after he had acknowledged Sawamura-Sans "Thanks." with a little hum.  
Suga thought that they would be silent after that, not intrude and disturb each others thoughts, and for a while, that seemed to work just fine. But then the dark haired guy spoke up.  
"Aren't you cold?", he wanted to know, though Suga wasn't sure if that was actually a question directed at him or just general wondering on Sawamuras' part.  
He turned to look at him when he decided to give him an answer.  
"Actually, yes. A little. But it's fine. I like it.", the blond revealed his like for the cold air (and cold weather in general) with a sincere smile tugging at his lips.  
He still didn't really like the guy, but he wasn't one to be unnecessarily mean, too, so he decided to at least be polite and keep their conversation going for a little while. Of course, he would later blame it on the several beers he had drank throughout the night, and a voice in his head that sounded a lot like Kuroo, reminding him of his promise -but for now he felt quite confident, at ease, even, while in Sawamuras company. Talking to the guy was surprisingly easy, too. He was easy to be flustered and teased and a little nervous, Suga noticed. That is, if the way he swirled his beer around in his can was anything to go by and Suga found himself surprised when he found himself laughing at one of Sawamuras remarks, thinking that maybe _-maybe-_ this guy wasn't so bad after all. But he quickly dismissed this thought again and instead wrapped himself in silence, with Sawamura doing the same. After a while, Sugas phone rang with an incoming message.

From: Cheshire Cat, 01:17  
Subject: home  
Text: couldnt find u anywhere? went home with some other guys

Suga frowned. What was that about? Kuroo usually never left a party, and lest of all, without Suga in tow. Something was up.

To: Cheshire Cat, 01:19  
Subject: home  
Text: I've been on the balcony, idiot! Didn't you check properly?!

From: Cheshire Cat, 01:22  
Subject: home  
Text: i did! u wrnt there!

The blond shook his head in disbelieve and put his phone back into the pocket of his jeans.  
"I can't believe it!", he muttered under his breath when he leant his back to the balustrade, contemplating.  
Kuroo had left, as had Shimizu-Chan over an hour ago, so there was nothing holding him here at this party any longer, right? He could leave now and go home, get his much needed sleep and then write that last part of that essay without any troubles. Another ringing sound caught his attention then, and he looked at his companion, who was now fishing for his own phone, it seemed. Suga had no way of knowing what kind of text Sawamura-San just got, but if the look on his face was anything to go by, he would say it wasn't anything to be happy about.  
"Everything okay?", he asked, before he could even stop himself.  
"Huh?", Sawamura-San blinked, surprised, "Oh! Uhm, yeah. More or less. I just learnt that my flatmate left without me to crash at a friends place, since the last train left an hour ago and the next isn't coming before 5am."  
Suga furrowed his brows in thought. He would bet his right arm that Kuroo had something to do with this. The guy knew Suga was one to always help people, even if he didn't particularly like them. He wasn't even surprised by his own words, once they left his lips.  
"You can crush at my place, if you want to. It's not that far away from the station.", he offered and marvelled at the shocked look he got from Sawamura.  
"What? I mean -yes, that would be great! But -is it really okay? I mean, I'm not an idiot. I can tell you don't exactly like me. I guess... I can' see why you're offering this?", he rambled, obviously getting more and more flustered with every word that left his mouth and a huge blush forming on his cheeks that Suga_ couldn't _possibly_ not_ notice.  
The blond laughed. Loud and free.  
"While it is true that I don't particularly like you, as you just pointed out, I am not a complete asshole, either. I mean it. You can crush at my place. That is, unless you are allergic to cats?", Suga confirmed, still chuckling a little.  
"Ah? No, it's fine. I'm not allergic to them.", Sawamura answered, still blushing, and Suga nodded.  
"Then it's settled."  
"Yeah."  
They were silent for a while after that, and then Sawamura went inside again, saying that he wanted to get another beer and talk to Bokuto before he actually left. Suga just nodded, agreeing to that and stayed on the balcony a little longer. It was not until his hands actually started to feel numb from the cold that he went back inside to warm himself up. He wasn't surprised to find living room mostly deserted, though the music was still playing and a few people sat together, chatting quietly. Suga didn't know them, so he didn't bother listening or even joining their conversation and instead went to the kitchen, where he found Akaashi, Sawamura-San and a guy he didn't know, but he figured that this had to be that Bokuto-guy Sawamura had mentioned earlier.  
"Suga! I thought you had left already!", Akaashi greeted him.  
"Ah, no. I was on the balcony until just now. Kuroo dumped me though, because he couldn't me earlier. Do you by any chance know with whom he left?", he asked his friend.  
"Oh, I know!", the person he presumed to be Bokuto chimed in, "He left with Asahi-San and Nishinoya-San!"  
"Oh, really? Thanks."  
"What?!", Sawamura blurted at the same time, and it didn't take much effort for Suga to put one and two together.  
Kuroo had left with Sawamuras flatmate, apparently. Which confirmed his earlier suspicion. He shot Akaashi a look, and the guy looked as surprised as Suga felt.  
"See?!", the blond mouthed to his friend, who nodded in agreement.  
"I can't believe it!", Suga heard Sawamura grumble.  
He must have seen through that set up by now, too.  
"Me neither.", he grumbled, agreeing to him.  
"What's going on? Talk to me!", Bokuto wanted to know, but Sawamura shook his head, denying him an answer.  
The guy whined, but neither of the three wanted to explain and eventually Sawamura finished his beer.  
"So, I guess we can go now?", he offered to Suga, who just nodded.  
They left shortly after and the walk to Sugas flat was spent in silence, both of them caught up in their own thoughts. Suga was going to murder Kuroo the next time he saw his best friend, he swore. What did the guy think he was doing? Did he even think at all?! Suga wasn't so sure and huffed, still irritated.  
"You know, I can just walk home. You don't have to let me stay over.", Sawamura-Kun said quietly, but Suga could feel the suppressed anger in his voice.  
"I know. But as I said before, I'm not an asshole, so you can stay. It wouldn't be right to let you walk home in this cold weather, anyway. Even if you are practically a human heater."  
"O-okay? But I still don't understand why you do this. I mean, you should at least be angry, but you don't seem to be at all."  
"Oh believe me, _I am_ pretty pissed right now. But it's no use to let this out on you. 'sides, you're as much a victim in this as I am, so I would be an idiot if I got mad at you.", Suga explained, looking at the guy walking next to him for the first time since they left Akaashis party.  
"That's true. We should probably plan something to get back at that damn trashcat, then. He deserves it.", Sawamura offered, sounding more relaxed now, even laughing a little at his own idea.  
And Suga? He couldn't help a small smile tugging at his lips, despite him still being angry at Kuroo.  
"Sounds good to me. We should totally do that.", he agreed eventually.  
He'd do (almost) anything to get back at his best friend, and if he had to team up with Sawamura-Kun to do it, then so be it. He wasn't that picky, ad it's not like he had any other options right now, anyway.  
"Great.", the guy smiled when Suga agreed to his suggestion.  
Soon after, they arrived at Sugas flat, both cold and with running noses from the cold breeze.  
"Do you want a tea or something before you go to bed or take a shower?", Suga questioned, miming the ever-polite host.  
"A tea would be nice, actually. I think the shower can wait until tomorrow, though. I'm beat."  
The blond nodded and toed his shoes off, gesturing to his guest to do the same and then follow him to the kitchen. Sawamura-Kun sat down at the table, while Suga went about preparing the tea.  
"I don't have an extra futon, but the couch is quite comfortable, I've been told. I hope you don't mind?"  
"Nah, it's fine. I'm glad that you let me stay at all, after that shit Kuroo pulled."  
"Hmhm.", Suga nodded, not sure to what he agreed with that -the fact of letting Sawamura stay or that Kuroo had indeed outdone himself tonight.  
In the end, it didn't matter. Suga placed a mug of steaming hot tea in front of his guest and then sat down at the other side of the table.  
"Thanks.", Sawamura smiled, only to look surprised to a spot to his left, where he felt the prick of claws through his jeans.  
He made a surprised noise, and before he could do anything else, the white cat had made itself comfortable on his lap.  
"Huh?", he just blinked down at the animal, confused.  
Suga looked quite similar at that sight. Usually Loki wasn't fond of strangers in his home and stayed away from them, not come out of his hiding spot and roll himself into a purring ball of white fur in their laps. The two exchanged equally perplexed looks and Suga shrugged, before Sawamura-Kun could say anything.  
"This is new. Loki usually never likes strangers and stays away from them. If you don't like it, just put him down, though."  
Sawamura just nodded, showing he understood, but he didn't make a move to shove the still purring cat away. Instead, he settled one hand onto its head and started petting it. The purring grew louder and Suga couldn't do anything but shake his head in disbelieve, while he took a sip from his tea.  
"I can't believe this is actually happening...", he mumbled, and Sawamura chuckled.  
"Oh come on, it's not that bad, is it?"  
"No. That just means I know who to call now when I need to take that devil to vets.", Suga grinned at a taken aback Sawamura.  
"Eh? But you don't have my number!"  
Now Suga was outright laughing -this was ridiculous.  
"Really, Sawamura? Don't you think Kuroo would gladly tell me, after what he pulled tonight?", he managed to wheeze out between fits of giggles.  
At that, his guest laughed, too.  
"You're probably right. Better accept my fate then, I guess?"  
The blond nodded.  
"You better do. Now, how are we going to repay that jerk?"

* * *

Notes:  
i should probably tell you that suga is only nice to daichi because of the alcohol he's had that night, but that would be a lie. xD *cough*  
Please let me know what you thought of this chapter! I love reading and replying to comments, they make my day every time i get one! :3

also, the next update may take a while (probably about two weeks from now, so around the 18th) since i want to get back to my other fic for Kagehina for now and i need to figure out a schedule to work on both fics equally, i guess êe


	8. Announcement

**Announcement**

Hello my dears  
I know I shouldn't be using the 'new chapter'-thingie for this, but I figured that this way, you'd at least see it. If I had put it in my profile, no one would have noticed it, I guess. *shrugs*  
Sooo- As you may have noticed by now, it has been a while since I last updated anything over here. This has several reasons.

First, I haven't exactly gotten around to writing much, and if I did, it wasn't Ta4 or Cys. I apologize for that, but at the moment, I'm not in the mood to be working on those fics.

Second, I don't feel like posting updates over here anymore. I moved to Ao3, where you can find me under the same username. I will continue my stories over there. This includes both Ta4 and Cys.

And last, I don't feel exactly welcomed over here. It just feels kind of cold and distant and not very personal. I am grateful for all the Revievs and Favs and Follows that I got and I appreciate all of you who left them very much, but right now I think it is better for me, to concentrate my writing on Ao3.

Of course, this doesn't mean I will delete this account. I will still keep it to browse and read stuff etc, I just won't publish any more updates on my fics.  
I hope you all can understand and won't be too mad at me for not coming out with this sooner. -ehe ^^"-  
So, thank you again for the support I received so far!

If you want to keep in touch with me or anything, really, feel free to drop by on my tumblr (you can find the link in my profile) or on Ao3 :)

Thanks for reading!


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